Little Place of Forgetting
by Tarma Hartley
Summary: Phoenix has been kidnapped by a madman who has a score to settle with Edgeworth. He's been imprisoned in an oubliette somewhere and now Edgeworth, with a little help from his friends, must race against time to save him from his Nemesis' clutches. PxE
1. Into The Maelstrom

_A/N:This is my first Phoenix & Edgeworth mystery fic and I hope that you enjoy it. :) It's a genre I haven't written in previously so I'm hoping I do a good job writing it. :) Phoenix's POV is in italics with Edgeworth's is in the usual text beginning in chapter 2. As for the title, it refers to an oubliette, "a secret dungeon with an opening only in the ceiling, as in certain old castles." (The definition I used for oubliette is taken from an online dictionary)_

_The word itself comes from a French word 'oblier' which means "to forget" and it definitely wasn't a place you wanted to be in. That's where the title comes from. :) Of course, there aren't any castles that I know of in the PW universe so I had to make up an oubliette of my own in a different place. :) I hope it works. :)_

Phoenix has been kidnapped and Edgeworth is desperately trying to find him before it's too late. Ema, Maya and Gumshoe, once they find out what happened, offer to help him in his search and the four race against time to find Phoenix. This question remains uppermost in their minds: is it already too late to save him and, for Miles, has he lost his love forever?

It's been awhile since I last posted anything but ideas are now flowing-and I have also begun writing-ATBE chapter 7 so that's good news from that front. :) I hope that everyone will enjoy this story in the meantime. :) I have made some corrections and additions to the story since I first put it up. :)

Thanks to Lyrical Rawr & ShadowSuzaku for their invaluable help and advice and to my husband, who's advice and suggestions were valuable in the revised version! I appreciate it more than I can say!! Thank you..one and all!

I dedicate this fic to ShadowSuzaku & Lyrical Rawr, with grateful thanks. :) You both are the best!

As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. :)

Phoenix & Edgeworth, mild language

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The first thing I was aware of was the darkness. Stygian, suffocating blackness surrounding me. The second was that I was in pain; my head throbbed insistently and I hissed through clenched teeth as I slowly began to move from my prone position on the ground. The third was that I was lying down on something uncomfortably hard that I could not identify as of yet.

I slowly lifted my arm and was surprised to discover that it stung with pain as well and was hard to lift. My eyes were slowly becoming accustomed to the blackness and it seemed like I was in some sort of underground room, near as I could tell. Maybe a basement of some sort, judging by the feel of hard dirt underneath me.

I had a hard time moving. When I moved even the slightest bit, every joint in my body screamed with pain, so I thought it best not to do so if I could avoid it.

_'Where the heck am I?'_ I wondered, slowly lifting my hand to my eyes and rubbing them, _'and, more importantly, how did I get here?' _Which led to another inevitable question: why?

I carefully concentrated in hopes of assessing the damage, if any and I was quite pleased to find there wasn't any significant harm that I was aware of save for the beginnings of a lump, making itself all too painfully known, on the back of my head. Anything else would really put a crimp in my legal career.

It was all rather...disconcerting, to say the least. I hadn't the foggiest idea where I was, how I came to be there or even who brought me here in the first place.

_'What was the last thing I remember?' _I thought, wincing at the pain shooting through my head._ 'What was I doing?'_ I dimly remembered that I was supposed to be somewhere to meet with someone. But who? I couldn't remember.

A name kept hovering around the edge of my consciousness but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Like a phantasm, it stayed tantalizingly out of reach, just a little beyond my grasp.

There was something nagging at me; I wished that I could remember exactly what that was. I found that a mite aggravating. I supposed if I really put my mind to it I could figure out what the name that lay on the fringes of my memory was, why that was important and which person it was to whom the name belonged.

It was there..just on the tip of my tongue. If only I could reach out just a bit further...

A flash of bright, white light crossed in front of my eyes, accompanied by a stab of agonizing pain that felt like I had been struck in the side of the face with some hard object. I cried out, falling back down onto the hard-packed dirt floor, fresh pain searing throughout my body.

I gasped and twisted, writhing in almost unbearable agony, biting hard on my lower lip to keep from crying out. Oh, god, I hurt everywhere!

I heard a voice coming from somewhere up above me and it didn't sound very happy. It was a low voice, one that echoed with unspoken menace and one that was obviously put out with me for some reason I couldn't fathom.

"Now, Mr. Wright," it said chidingly, slowly making its way toward me. "You know very well not to do that." A deep sigh. "If you insist on continuing this rather vain and fruitless opposition, you'll end up just like she did." I could hear the voice coming closer. "And you don't want that, do you?"

_'She? Who...is...she? What is this person talking about? Who are you and who is it that you're talking about? I don't understand.. Gods, my head hurts...'_

A cruel chuckle and shuffling footsteps that stopped in front of where I was lying. I looked up trying, in vain, to make out the person standing in front of me in the darkness.

I could see a vague outline but nothing more and I couldn't tell if the person standing in front of me was male or female. The voice certainly gave nothing away.

"Tch. My dear Mr. Wright, if only you'd done as I had asked and come with me quietly, none of this would have been necessary. You have only yourself to blame for this, you know."

I could hear the voice coming ever closer and realized that, whoever it was, they were either bending down or kneeling on the ground.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Mr. Wright. It's entirely up to you." Another cruel chuckle emitted from it's lips. "I don't want to have to send you back to your lover in pieces; that really wouldn't be at all pleasant, now would it?" Deep, menacing laughter suddenly rang out. "Not only that but it really is rather messy and I would like to avoid that as much as possible." A protracted sigh soon followed. "It really does depend on you."

My head spun. _'Lover? What...lover? I don't have a lover. What on earth are you talking about...?'_

Wait a moment. A name... That name, hovering just beyond me. Was that name my...lover's... name? I couldn't think straight through the fresh pain that flowed through me once more; it felt like my head had split open.

"Don't play with me, Mr. Wright," the voice hissed angrily in my ear. "I promise you that you will certainly regret it if you do and then what would your dear Mr. Edgeworth do with you dead, I wonder?" I felt rough fingertips draw themselves over the skin of my cheek and I instinctively shrank away from it.

Another burst of menacing laughter from the darkness; I really didn't like where this conversation was heading. Who was Edgeworth and why did that name sound so familiar to me?

I wished I could understand...

_'Edgeworth...? Who...?'_ The thoughts were hazy and incomplete. I knew this name but I couldn't remember how or the face to whom it belonged. Everything was so fuzzy and out of focus..

"So pretty," the voice crooned above me, the unwanted caresses continuing; my skin crawled at the shape's every touch. "Such a pretty, pretty boy. You make such a beautiful pair, you and Mr. Edgeworth; so perfect together..."

High-pitched giggling followed that last statement and I felt a chill creep up my spine. "I wonder what he will do to ensure your safe return, hmmm?"

I was dimly aware of hot breath on the side of my face; I tried not to wince at the shape's sour-smelling breath as it drifted past my nose. "Maybe, just maybe, we may even be able to strike a deal to ensure that you're returned alive and well...and in one piece." Loud, raucous laughter rang out all around me. "You'll be the prize."

My blood ran cold at these words, a shudder ripping through my body. I felt a closed fist crash into the side of my head, which sent another burst of pain coursing through me.

A thin scream escaped from my tightly clenched lips and tears flowed down my cheeks. I curled up into a tight ball, whimpering in pain._'Gods..stop. Please, stop...'_

"Don't make me angry," the voice hissed again, the words spit out in a staccato manner, each word dripping with venom. I vaguely wondered why. "That would be a very, _very_ foolish thing for you to do." I could hear his teeth grinding together, the terrible, gnashing sound sending chills up and down my spine. " I would have to hurt you and that isn't what I want to do."

The voice seemed further away now and I belatedly realized that the speaker had stood up. "I never wanted to hurt any of them but they made me. They made me hurt them! I didn't want to but...they...made...me!"

Hurt...them? Did this mean that this person killed other people? It certainly sounded like it. And what exactly did this person mean by "I didn't want to hurt them but they made me?" Truthfully, I didn't want to find out.

I retreated back into silence which seemed to mollify the shape somewhat. The pain in my body only seemed to increase. When I lifted my arm once again, I was quite surprised to hear the clinking of chain links and felt cold metal biting into the skin around my wrists and waist.

_'What the...?_'

It was at this point that my fogged brain came to understand that I was chained to a back wall which spread out behind me, iron manacles circling my wrists and waist tightly with enough chain attached to both that I could move for a limited distance.

And, while I had no idea exactly what was going on as of yet, who it was had taken me to this godforsaken place or even the face to whom the name that kept nagging in the back of my head belonged to, one inescapable truth did become unmistakably clear in that instant.

I was in serious trouble.

And so was 'Edgeworth,' whoever he was.


	2. Friends? Lovers? Connections?

When Phoenix fails to show up for their night out, Edgeworth receives a call that will tell him that he isn't dealing with someone sane. His Nemesis is not only clever but he will do anything to get the revenge he seeks..and he's not about to let anything or anyone stand in his way. What makes things even worse is that Edgeworth will come to recognize just _who_ his Nemesis is and realize that a _very_ bitter voice from the past is stalking him, seeking to destroy him by whatever means necessary..

Here is chapter two for your reading pleasure and I do apologize for the wait. I hope you enjoy it! This is the first time I've ever written Edgeworth in first person so I hope that I have his voice just right. :) As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. :)

Thanks to ShadowSuzaku & Lyrical Rawr once again for their invaluable insights and help. You two are the best and I can't begin to thank both of you enough for all your help. :) Thanks also to everyone who posted their comments on Court Records, to all of my readers and special thanks to my husband for his support and nagging. :)

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October 16  
7:30 P.M.  
Miles Edgeworth's Office

I sat in my chair, looking quietly out the window into the darkness beyond. The cup of tea that I had been enjoying sat almost as an after thought on my desk, my face cupped in my hand.

There was something about dark Fall nights that had often depressed me in the past-not that I would have admitted it at that point in time, to myself or anyone else-and still had an uncomfortable effect even now.

I didn't really know why that was but I suspected that it had its roots in the DL-6 incident when I was trapped, along with my father and Yanni Yogi, in the elevator during an earthquake.

I pushed that uncomfortable thought out of my mind as quickly as I could; the last thing I needed was another reminder of my father's death. I had much happier things to think of instead of revisiting the long dead past.

I looked at my watch again for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. 7:30. Where was he?

With a sigh, I lifted the cup to my lips, taking a small sip of the hot, fragrant liquid, savoring the tea's delicious aroma and taste as I swallowed, placing the cup gently back onto the saucer.

Leaning back, I closed my eyes, reveling in the sweet and soothing flavor as it coursed down my throat, warming me inside and lifting my spirits. It was something that I had always enjoyed doing and, more often than not, was enough to calm me no matter what kind of day I was having.

'_I suppose he's gone off to his office to finish up some last minute things before he comes over for our date_,' I thought, reaching over absently and picking up the half-full tea cup, a crooked grin on my face, '_that would be just like him_.'

Thus revitalized, I leaned back and waited for Phoenix to arrive, a smile upon my lips. I couldn't wait to see him again; it had been far too long since our last Date Night back in July and I was looking forward very much to our night out together.

'_I wonder if we'll have snow soon?_'

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_It seemed like hours had gone by in this Stygian underworld but it couldn't have been more than half an hour or so since I'd been put here. The thought of simply pulling the chains that were attached to the manacles from the back of the wall had occurred to me but I realized in a short time that this wouldn't do me any good._

_The manacles held strong and sure and I soon gave up the fruitless endeavor of trying to pull them out of the wall from which they were solidly ensconced. I sighed in frustration and sank prone once again, my fist pounding the hard ground beneath me._

_'What was the point of it all?' I thought in despair. 'I don't know who this person is or what they want, much less why I was brought here.' My head started to throb once again and I closed my eyes, wishing that it would go away._

_In the course of a few minutes, my life was turned upside down and inside out by person or persons unknown and I found that to be damnably unfair; I'd complain about the unfairness of it all if I knew who to complain to._

_I felt tears prick my eyes and I did my best to try and keep them back as well as the self-pity I could feel welling up in me; neither would do me any good right now._

_I was in a terrible situation and I needed to think of a way to extricate myself from it though, on the face of it, it was clear that escape from here at the present was definitely not a possibility._

_It was still all a mystery to me and I wished I could sort out my muddled thoughts; half remembered images, blank faces and voices kept up a steady stream in my consciousness though I had no idea who any of these people were but one thing seemed consistent–they all were connected to me, somehow._

_That was the only thing clear to me at this time, but I couldn't help wondering who they were and what their connections to me were. That they were important was very clear, but the why of it was not._

_I had to keep thinking, to keep the line of questions going. I had to find out who these faces were; maybe, just maybe, these faces out there were missing me, perhaps they were even looking for me. I could always fall back on that hope, but I needed to know who these people were and why they were so deeply embedded in my consciousness_.

_The shape-this is the name I had given to my abductor since I couldn't tell for sure, given the relatively brief time and on account of the Stygian darkness inside my prison, if it had been a male or female-had said something about my supposed lover, someone named Edgeworth, who would, presumably, do anything for my safe return._

_I turned that bit of information about in my mind for a little bit, slowly digesting it and only stopped when I could no longer bear the ache it caused in my head._

_It was, at this point, a wasted mental exercise since I was no closer to discovering WHO Edgeworth was, WHY he was important to me, and HOW I was connected with him. Were we, as the shape insisted, really lovers or was that just a ploy?_

_If so, for what purpose? What could the shape possibly gain by it if it wasn't true? My head hurt from the implications._

_I didn't know all the answers but the questions themselves kept coming in an seemingly unending flow as I laid my head back down on the ground, unable to bear the pounding in my head any longer._

_'What was going to come of this?' I wondered again and, as I closed my eyes, a terrible thought came into my mind. 'And will I survive it?'_

_I definitely didn't like the direction this was going in._

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8:30 PM

It was now 8:30 and Phoenix still hadn't arrived. I was worried by this time since he'd never been late on a date night before. I tried going over in my mind all the places where he might possibly be, wondering again why he hadn't called. Normally, when he was running late, he would always call to let me know.

'_Where is he? Why hasn't he called? This isn't like him to miss Date Night_!' Frowning, I stood up and started to pace back in forth in front of the window, peering out every few minutes into the pitch black darkness. What was I hoping to find or, for that matter, see?

I was trying not to, but I had to admit at this point I had crossed the line from concern to outright worry. Something had to be wrong or he would have been here by now.

Knowing him as I did, intimately and otherwise, he would have at least called to let me know, not wanting to worry me. This was what kept nagging at me; the lack of a call. This was completely out of character for Phoenix.

I paused in my pacing before the window, looking out into the inky blackness of this cold October night, my brow creasing with worry.

'_Where are you, Phoenix? Where ARE you?!_'

Pacing the floor relentlessly wasn't the answer so I reluctantly sat back down behind my desk, pouring myself another cup of tea. I jerkily lifted the cup to my lips, my shaking hands spilling some of the tea on the saucer.

Cursing softly, I held the tea cup as firmly as I could in my hands, my thoughts wandering as I looked out of the window once again. '_Where are you? What's keeping you?_'

No answer was forthcoming from the night.

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The ringing of my cell phone a few minutes later was enough to jolt me from my reverie and I nearly dropped the tea cup on the floor in my surprise. I did manage to save it and set it on my desk without any further problems. Or any further affront to my dignity.

'_I swear I'm going to kill that man if he doesn't have a good excuse for being late_,' I thought grumpily as I fished in my jacket pocket for my cell phone. '_He should have called and let me know he would be late, damn his hide!_'

I flipped open the phone and pressed the talk button. I had meant for my opening words to be calm and rational but what came out of my mouth was anything but.

"Wright, where the hell are you?!" I practically yelled into the phone, anger coursing through me. "If you were going to be late, you could have at least called to let me know!! Get your backside over here now or I'll–"

I stopped as a grating, though uneasily familiar, voice chuckled on the line.

"How quaint, Mr. Edgeworth," it said chidingly with a hint of malicious humor that chilled me to my marrow. "I have your lover and all you're doing is yelling." A droll chuckle emanated on the other end of the line. "What do you think your precious Mr. Wright would make of that if he knew, Mr. Edgeworth?"

I stopped cold on those words, a chill quickly spreading through me. '_Where have I heard that voice before..and why is it so familiar to me? I'm not certain that I heard him right but did he just say he...has...Phoenix?_'

"Who is this?" I asked coldly, trying to suppress the fear I could feel starting to spread through me. The voice sounded familiar, somehow, which only increased my concern level; I didn't like the tone of voice nor the voice itself with it's cold and calculated menace.

Whoever the voice belonged to on the other line said that he-I was sure it was a male voice-had Phoenix and I didn't like the implications in that sentence. It was anything but benign.

"Let's just say that I am your.." A slight pause. "..._Nemesis_...Mr. Edgeworth and leave it at that. For now." Another droll chuckle; my fingers tightened around the cell phone until my knuckles turned white and sat down quickly, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.

_Nemesis_.

_Avenger. Distributer of Divine Justice. Retribution._

My mind spun. '_Avenger?_' I thought in confusion, my eyebrow raising. '_Avenger...for what, exactly? What is he talking about? What is going on?! Where is Phoenix?!_'

I didn't know the answers to the questions racing through my mind and this bothered me greatly. Something was very wrong: the phone call coupled with Phoenix's being really late was really worrying. Slowly, it was starting to add up and I didn't like the direction it was heading in.

The caller said that he had Phoenix; was he bluffing or did he mean what he said and really have Phoenix, holding him against his will? It made terrible sense and I had a really bad feeling about this.

"I don't believe you," I said coolly, trying to control the wave of panic that threatened to engulf me, "you're bluffing."

'_God, I hope so! I hope this is nothing more than a really bad joke by a petty colleague seeking to settle a score although I can't imagine for the life of me why any of them would stoop so low and do something like this_.'

"Now, now, Mr. Edgeworth," that irritating voice said, a laugh bubbling up from his invisible lips, "I didn't go to all of this trouble just to try and bluff you. I really do have your lover and, if you wish to have him returned to you in one piece and very much alive, you'll do as I ask."

I winced at the biting and menacing tone of that last sentence. "_I really do have your lover and, if you wish to have him returned to you in one piece and very much alive, you'll do as I ask_." I realized, in that moment, that this wasn't a joke and the caller meant every word he said; any doubt had all been swept away.

The harsh truth of the matter made itself all too clear to me in that instant. The caller really _did_ have Phoenix and he had threatened to kill him if I didn't cooperate in whatever game it was that he had in mind. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I wasn't about to gamble my lover's life on it, a fact that the caller was all too aware of. Just _how_ he knew was a mystery.

'_Damn it.'_

"I'm waiting..Mr. Edgeworth," the voice from the other end snarled, bringing me back to the present. "I really don't like to be kept waiting, as you should well know. I have the upper hand here as I am sure you now realize and I fully intend to use it if you force me to."

I bit my lip. '_As I should..know? What do you mean? I don't even know you! How do you know me?_!'

I'm sorry to say that I lost my temper at that point, my fear and anger bubbling over.

"Damn you to hell, you miserable bastard!" I screamed, standing and clutching the side of my desk with my hand since I still wasn't too steady on my feet. "If you harm him I'll–"

"You'll do _what_, Mr. Edgeworth?" the voice asked mockingly, taunting me. "Find me? I wish you luck! Hunt me down? I don't think so...not if you want your precious Mr. Wright back alive and in one piece." There was another pause while I trembled with suppressed rage, trying to force myself to calm down.

'_He's right, damn him! I can't do anything without endangering Phoenix! What am I going to do?!'_

A satisfied grunt sounded on the other end followed by another dry chuckle. "I see you finally understand, Mr. Edgeworth, in just how precarious a position you _reall_y are. I hold all the cards and I will play them as I see fit. However, one question does remain: what will you do to make sure that Mr. Wright is safely returned to you?"

I gritted my teeth. I was in a no-win situation and I knew it.

"What do you want?" I hissed, scrunching my eyes tightly shut.

"Now you're being reasonable. I like that, Mr. Edgeworth. You can plainly see that further resistance is detrimental to your interests, not to mention mine as well." A small sigh resonated at the other end. "You see, '_A wrong is undressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong_.' "

I raised an eyebrow at the literary reference.

"Poe's "_The Cask of Amontillado,_" I said, "but I hardly see what this.." I stopped cold, understanding rushing over me. "You wouldn't..!"

The voice laughed. "Of course I would, Mr. Edgeworth! You know very well I would which is the only reason you're even continuing this conversation with me. You _know_ I have your lover and you _will_ do what it takes to get him back safely, wouldn't you?"

'_Damn you. You know I would, without a second thought_.'

"Yes," I said, swallowing hard, my voice barely above a whisper.

Another droll chuckle came to my ears. "Excellent! Now we can negotiate, Mr. Edgeworth." The voice sounded very happy and I marveled at the quick switch in mood that the caller had, wondering briefly what it was that had caused the change. "You're very wise and I commend you for your prudence."

"Cut your blathering and get on with it!" I snapped, my temper ragged from fear and worry, "and stop wasting time! Tell me what you want!"

"Temper, temper, Mr. Edgeworth!" the voice cat-called while I grimaced with annoyance at my helplessness. "Remember–I control whether or not you see your precious Mr. Wright again and you would do well not to make me angry. If you do, something just might happen to your precious lover that you don't want to.." The voice trailed off again as my eyes widened with horror.

'_My god, he's serious! He's really serious!_'

"I am _very_ serious, Mr. Edgeworth," the voice continued briskly, "and I will do what is necessary to prove to you just how serious I really am." He paused again for a moment to let this sink in. "Now, to business. I have what you want and you have what I want. It seems logical to me that we should effect a trade, should we not?"

"A..trade?" I asked dumbly, unable to believe my ears. "What kind of trade? What do I have that you could possibly want?"

A slight pause followed that, to me, seemed to stretch on for hours. "Respect, Mr. Edgeworth," the voice spat angrily and I could feel the seething rage in those words bubbling just under the surface. "Respect that rightfully belonged to me which was given to you!"

My brow furrowed at the vehemence and anger in those biting words, trying to remember, if I could, who the caller was. He was familiar and I wished I could remember where I'd come into contact with this individual.

'_Wait! That...voice... I remember now!_'

A few moments later, a memory that I had forgotten many years earlier surfaced. With it, came the terrible realization that, not only did I know now who the caller was, but I also remembered very clearly where I had seen him before.

'_No..no, it can't be! It CAN'T be!'_

My face went white as I realized just who it was on the other end. Someone who had haunted my dreams for months in my early years as a Prosecutor and who I hoped I'd never see again.

It was Kaine Mayhew.


	3. Let The Game Begin

_Now that Kaine has Miles' full attention, he makes him an offer he can't refuse: play the game he dictates-the prize being Phoenix's life-or else... Some of Kaine's motivation for kidnapping Phoenix becomes clear but one thing he spits out in anger only makes the mystery more puzzling...and deadly._

Sorry this has taken so long! It's becoming a little more difficult and challenging to write but I'm still enjoying it, regardless. :) It's a bit of a long chapter so I do apologize for the length; there's so much going on. :)

Thank you to all my loyal readers! I appreciate every single one of you and thank you for reading, commenting and enjoying my work. It means a lot to me!

Thank you to my wonderful beta readers, ShadowSuzaku & Lyrical Rawr! I appreciate your help in every conceivable way! You two are the BEST!!!

A special Thank you to my husband, for his advice, suggestions, support and nagging (when necessary). :) I appreciate it more than I can say!

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and, as always, suggestions and comments are appreciated and welcomed. :)

Rated T, Phoenix & Edgeworth, mild language

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_Phantom voices, phantom faces swim in my memory, hazy and indistinct. They float behind my closed lids, so close it feels like I could reach out and touch them. Who are they? What are they doing in my mind? Do I honestly know these hazy, half-remembered figures?_

_I have the uneasy feeling that I do, although I wish I could remember how and why they're relevant to me. Friends? Perhaps they are, or conversely, maybe they're...closer? The shape said the one named Edgeworth was._

_I wished that my head didn't hurt so much. It made thinking very difficult, that throbbing ache was an ever present reminder of my captivity and a most depressing one, at that. I needed to figure out who these people were._

_I flexed my arms slowly, the chains clinking ominously as I did so. I sighed as I gingerly rolled over onto my back, my arm lying across my eyes._

How did I get into this mess? _I wondered, feeling my strength slowly draining away. It certainly was depressing._

_Time had ceased to mean anything to me here. Every minute, every second felt the same deep inside this dark abyss._

_Here in the darkness, I had no idea how long I'd been imprisoned; it could have been days, for all I knew. Everything was the same and I knew nothing of how much time had passed._

_Questions flowed through my mind in a steady stream, a ceaseless parade of inquiries & thoughts that were ever present in the back of my head. I also rolled onto the still tender knot that was on the left side of my head, bringing another stab of sharp pain through my skull._

_I cried out, rolling over onto my right side, stars dancing behind my closed lids. My hands clenched into fists, my lips pressed tightly together as I tried to stifle another cry of pain threatening to burst from me and curled up into a tight ball._

How long will this go on? _I thought despondently, tears rolling down my cheeks, wishing with all my heart that I was anywhere but here_.

_Who was it I had been going to meet and why was I meeting this person there? Why did I have these mental images of roses, beautiful grey eyes and a card? Maybe the shape was right. Maybe I **did** have a lover._

_I wish I could remember..._

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"Kaine," I breathed softly, my mind racing. Of all the people from the past I had wished fervently never to see again, he was at the top of the list.

He chuckled nastily on the other end. I could have sworn that I detected amusement in his voice, my heart dropping in the general direction of my feet.

"So you do remember me after all, Mr. Edgeworth," he remarked blandly, his voice heavy with irony. "And here I thought that you'd forgotten."

_I wish I had._

"Now that we have that firmly established and the re-introduction complete, down to business," Kaine said, his voice steadily lowering into a hostile hiss. "You owe me restitution for your crimes against me..." He paused for a moment. "...And against my brother."

_What?! Crimes against you and your...brother?! Is this some kind of joke?!_

My eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" I demanded, my mind whirling with possibilities. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

I was very afraid at this point. This lunatic had Phoenix, I had no idea what he was talking about and the last thing I wanted to do was set him off.

He had made it very clear that if he were hindered in any way, that he would hurt Wright and I took him at his word.

"Of course you do, Mr..Edgeworth," Kaine repeated, enunciating every word he spoke with such venom I belatedly wondered why he was so angry at me, "you..took..away my respect!! _You_ took away _my_ respect! You took away the respect that should have been mine in the first place, you damn...prosecutor! And you killed my brother!!!"

I trembled as I heard him literally frothing at the mouth in rage, swallowing hard. _Oh God, I thought desperately, my mind working feverishly. Please don't let him hurt Phoenix! He can do what he wants to me, just don't let him hurt Phoenix!_

I had to calm him quickly or else.

"You're right," I interrupted in the middle of his angry rant, hoping this would calm him down but I was at a loss at how to address the second part of his outburst since I had no idea what he was talking about. "You're...right. I took the respect you should have had. I was wrong."

I hated myself for the lie even as it passed my lips, hoping desperately that it sounded at least passably believable.

This was serious; I now knew the person I was dealing with on the other end of the phone wasn't at all sane and any further denial would probably anger him to the point where he was likely to carry out his threat.

That was the last thing I wanted to happen.

Silence on the other end. I was beginning to wonder if I'd read him wrong when I heard Kaine reply, in a very suspicious tone of voice, "You...admit...it?"

He sounded very surprised though undertones of rage were still faintly present underneath. I'd thrown his equilibrium a little, just enough to buy me a little time.

"Yes," I replied, closing my eyes. "I admit it." I hoped this would work.

"Well, well, this is certainly a surprise, I will own," Kaine continued after a brief pause layered with a hint of malice and, thankfully, didn't address the second part of his rant. "But one I am pleased with. You acknowledge that you've wronged me which means that you have the intelligence to recognize your mistake. I applaud you!"

_I hate sarcastic people_, I thought to myself, careful not to express this out loud.

"Now, then, as much as I am enjoying our little chat, it's time we got down to business."

_About time._

"You see, Mr. Edgeworth," Kaine said, any hint of anger absent replaced with clear pragmatism. "I have a little proposal for you. And, I am sorry to say, refusal is _not_ an option."

A chill ran down my spine.

"No," I said resignedly, "it isn't." I sighed. There was no way around it. "What is it you propose?"

"A little game between us, Mr. Edgeworth," he said practically. "You and I in a battle of wits to the finish."

_I don't like the implications of that._

And what is the prize if I win?" I asked.

"Your dear Mr. Wright will be returned to you unharmed. I give you my word."

I dreaded the next question but I needed to ask it.

"And..if I lose?" I could hardly get the words out.

Kaine's voice became hard and a shudder ran through me at his next words. "Then you will never see him alive again. I also give you my word on _that_."

I lowered my head, rubbing my eyes with my fingers.

"Do we have a deal, Mr. Edgeworth?" Kaine asked again, with a hint of impatience.

"Yes," I said at last, unease plain in my voice. "We have a deal."

_I hope you can forgive me, Phoenix. I had no choice... I don't want to lose you; I couldn't bear it._

"Very wise of you, Mr. Edgeworth," he remarked maliciously, a hint of triumph in his tone, "very wise, indeed. Now, then, let the game begin."

I started.

"Wait!" I cried out, panic clearly in my voice. "What do I have to do? What are the rules? You haven't told me they are! I don't know what you expect me to do in order to play!"

"The rules, Mr. Edgeworth?" A pause and then a nasty little giggle. "There really are no rules except this one: You do what I tell you and find what I tell you to find. That's all." A smothered chortle. "It's very simple, really."

"All right," I said, "when and where do I start?"

"Why, right now, of course Mr. Edgeworth," Kaine stated forcefully, with unmitigated glee. "Now the hunt will begin!" He sounded excited at the prospect. "Oh and Mr. Edgeworth?"

"Yes?"_ What else does he want?!_

"I would advise you not to contact anyone for help in this game or I promise you Mr. Wright will pay dearly for it."

I clutched the phone tightly in my hand.

"What do you mean if I contact anyone for help you'll hurt Phoenix?" I asked, my voice ragged. "If you hurt him, I swear I'll-"

"I'm not interested in what you will or will not do, Mr. Edgeworth," Kaine said blandly and, for some reason, it struck me that he sounded bored with my outburst. "You _will_ adhere to the rules of the game. If you _don't_, Mr. Wright will pay dearly for it as I have already said. How much more clearly do I have to state it?"

I forced myself to calm down. Outbursts of temper wouldn't help in this situation and it might put Phoenix in unnecessary danger, something I wanted to avoid as much as I could.

"You've made yourself perfectly clear," I said soothingly, hating myself for saying it but seeing the dire need all too clearly. "Just tell me what I have to do and where."

"Very well, " Kaine replied smugly on the other end, as if this was the answer he was expecting all along. "Your first assignment will be to find something left at various places where Mr. Wright has been." Menacing laughter. "It should be easy for you, Mr. Edgeworth. It may be that it is too easy, perhaps, for someone of your great intellect but it will be interesting watching, nonetheless."

_What?!_

"Wait. What do you mean 'watching'? You'll be watching me?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Of course! Did you think I wouldn't be?" He laughed again. "I have to make certain you follow the rules of the game to the letter so naturally I'll be keeping you in my sight."

I should have known he would be. I should have known he wasn't about to make this easy for me.

"You're wasting valuable time, Mr. Edgeworth," Kaine chided with no small amount of satisfaction, "you'd better get started. The night is young and you have a certain place you must be in the time I allot to you."

"Where do you want me to go first?"

A thoughtful pause. "I want you to go to the place inspired by this poem that I am sure you and Mr. Wright are very familiar with:

"**My life closed twice before its close-  
It yet remains to see  
If Immortality unveil  
A third event to me.  
So huge, so hopeless to conceive  
As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven,  
And all we need of hell.**"

My heart constricted within me at the words. It was a poem that Phoenix and I both loved by Emily Dickinson. It wasn't a love poem, per se, but it did express the deep feelings that we had for each other.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.

"Mr. Edgeworth?"

"Yes?" I could barely get the words out over the lump in my throat. I blinked away a tear that threatened to spill from my eye; this was not the time to grieve since I still had time to save Phoenix but I had to be very careful in the way I chose to go about it.

"It isn't wise to waste any time that you can't afford to lose, Mr. Edgeworth. You'd best get moving or..." His voice trailed off and I didn't need him to finish since the implication was all too clearly stated. It was a bare threat and one to be taken seriously.

"I will, dammit!" I hollered as I reached for my black trench-coat and struggled to put it on which was a bit difficult to do when your mind isn't on what you're doing. "Just...don't hurt him."

"I won't...unless_ you_ force _my_ hand, Mr. Edgeworth." Kaine sighed again with what I took to be mild exasperation, like a parent would with an incomprehensive child. I wondered if that was how he saw me. "It really is up to you. You're free to make any choice you want though Phoenix will be made to pay for any wrong choices you may happen to make."

Smug satisfaction echoed in his words and I wondered again why and what grudge that person had against me to lash out at me like this by targeting Phoenix. This wasn't a random act; it was calculated and personal.

"I suggest that you think long and hard about every move you make since your lover's life depends on it." Loud laughter once again. "You have one hour so I suggest you make the most of it, Mr. Edgeworth. I don't suspect it will be too hard for the Demon Prosecutor to do but then, you never really know, do you?"

I didn't bother to reply since I was already on my way out the door and halfway down the hall, snapping my cell phone closed and putting it in my pocket. I thought about where this poem would lead as I pounded down the flights of stairs two at a time, not pausing to take a breath. I didn't have any time to waste and I didn't want to put Phoenix into any danger I could possibly avoid.

I raced down the last flight of stairs and ploughed through the door to the Prosecutor's office building, nearly skidding on some slushy snow that had accumulated some time previously.

I managed to catch myself in time before I fell and kept my balance as I ran out of the parking lot, around the corner and along the sidewalk leading down the Main Street. My lungs burned as I ran down the slushy sidewalk, little flakes striking my face as it began to snow again. I wasn't consciously aware of anything save the clue that I had been given.

_Where would that place be?_ I wondered as I ran down the street, skidding to a stop at the crosswalk and waiting until it flashed "Walk", then racing across the street as fast as I could.

I received my fair share of strange looks from passersby who probably wondered where I was going in such a hurry and why it appeared that I was trying to break my neck running down the slushy street like that. I ignored them as I ran, my mind working to sort out the clue I had been given.

_What connection is between the poem and a place where Phoenix has been?_ On the surface, it didn't make any sense and my mind worked this over and over without a firm conclusion. I bit my lip in frustration at the seemingly endless contradictions this statement seemed to have.

It shouldn't have been difficult to try and figure out-evidently Kaine, casting himself in the role of Nemesis, thought I could figure it out relatively quickly, without any real trouble-but I was having trouble thinking, that awful worry over the fate of my beloved driving out all other thoughts and considerations.

It all made terrible sense and I marveled anew at how clever and dangerous Kaine was, putting Phoenix's fate in my hands; what actions I took or didn't take made all the difference. Damn him!

_Think, Miles, think!_ I thought heatedly as I continued my race down the sidewalk. _You don't have ANY time to waste; Phoenix's life depends on it!_

I gritted my teeth as I skidded to a stop at the corner, sitting down hard on a park bench; I had to stop for awhile to catch my breath for I couldn't run any further with a nasty stitch in my side.

I thought hard but seemed no closer to a conclusion that made any sense than when I started. I groaned in frustration and put my head in my hands; this was all so surreal I couldn't believe it was actually happening.

If anyone had told me a few years back that something like this was possible, I would have thought they were crazy. My world was an orderly one and things like this simply didn't happen in that world; this illusion, like so many others in my life, was shattered on the cold winds of reality.

It _was_ happening. Kaine, who apparently knew me well enough to be able to talk to me with some degree of familiarity and follow my every move, had taken the one I loved more than anything else in the world in order to get back at me for some reason I could neither fathom nor understand.

Now I was drawn into this madman's twisted game of hide and seek and I had to figure out what the clue he'd provided me with meant... and soon.

I didn't want to think of the consequences of my failure to do so since he had spelled it out quite clearly what would happen if I didn't play by his rules, God only knowing when those rules would change. I knew this type of offender fairly well since I had prosecuted cases that involved this type of crime before..and the results weren't at all pleasant.

I had come across some of the most loathsome criminals in my years as a prosecutor in this type of crime: abduction of a loved one or lover to get back at the people they thought had slighted them. It didn't matter if there was a reason or not, what mattered was that they thought they were fully justified and that was the fuel for their burning desire for vengeance.

Shrugging off that uncomfortable train of thought, I turned my attention to the situation that confronted me in the present. Right now, I had to think of a possible location that fit the clue. Dickinson's poem was-to Phoenix and I, at least-a love poem and what place would be tied to that emotion?

As this thought went through my mind, I happened to look up and saw a happy couple coming out of the flower shop down the street, the woman chatting excitedly to her companion who looked at her with rapt attention.

They were holding hands and looked very happy together; despite the bitter chill in the air this evening and the snow slowly accumulating on the ground, both were relaxed and seemingly without a care in the world.

She had a bouquet of roses in her hand and, every so often, I saw them exchange loving looks which cut me to the heart.

Seeing the bouquet the woman held brought back a memory from not so long ago when Phoenix and I were first starting our relationship. What heady days those were! Though there were some problems that did crop up six months into the relationship, we had worked through them and had come through strong and secure in the knowledge that we really did want to be together.

My lips curved into a secretive smile as I thought of Phoenix and the first time I had ever bought him flowers. It seemed so silly at the time-our relationship was really at its earliest stages back then-but he liked flowers so I thought I would buy him some.

It really was a spontaneous purchase. I was coming back from lunch at my favorite Italian restaurant one afternoon and, passing by on the way back to the Prosecutor's Office, I happened to see that there was a flower shop a couple of stores down the street.

I had decided, on a whim, to buy him some flowers since I knew that he liked them; I'd wanted to do something special for him for no other reason than it pleased me to please him.

I was very embarrassed at the time-and the odd looks I received from the florist and some of the store patrons certainly didn't help when I dictated, out loud to the clerk, what I wanted on the card. I couldn't wait to leave the premises-but he had loved them, going into joyful and excited exclamations that I swore could be heard all over the building.

I had made a mental note at that point to never give him flowers again at work but, for the slight annoyance and some embarrassment it caused from the inquiring looks from people who passed by my door, I was secretly pleased that he was so happy. All the discomfort I'd felt while I was at the florist's evaporated and was all but forgotten.

_I wonder if he knew that?_

The thought came unbidden and my somewhat settled mood vanished in that instant, bringing me back forcefully to the ugly present and the terror I was trying so hard not to let overrun me. I'd made such a fuss about it at the time but, honestly, I didn't really mind, in spite of the irritations.

I looked up at the gently falling snow, filled with regret. _I wonder if he ever knew that?_

I forced my mind back to the business at hand and was so deep in thought I didn't notice when the couple from the flower shop passed right by me on their way down the street. It was just as well; to see their happiness would only bring back forcefully the heartache I felt so deeply and wished to avoid.

A soft sound suddenly broke through my deep train of thought and my body reacted accordingly. I jerked my head up and, in that moment, I saw the glint of something lying at my feet in the accumulating snow.

I bent over and picked it up. My eyes narrowed slightly when I was able to take a good look at it. It was a small silver ring.

_Now how did this get here?_ I thought with surprise, turning the delicate filigreed silver piece over in my fingers, marveling at its delicately scrolled roses and vines that encircled it. It was a beautiful ring with exceptionally detailed scrolled artwork.

_Its a beautiful piece of work but who does this belong to? And what does it mean?_

I looked at the ring in my hand closely with amazement; the scroll work was evidently done with exceptional skill and was the work of a master craftsman. Of this, I was left in no doubt.

There seemed to be an inscription on the inside of the ring itself that was difficult to read which wasn't surprising since I wasn't sitting directly under the soft light given off by the street lamp behind the bench but a few inches outside of it.

I stood up and walked into the soft light, holding it up to my eye. I hoped I would be able to read what was inscribed there and pondering what this could be. Was it a key to the mystery of the clue? Was it a distraction or, worse, a trap?

The last one did have some merit since I didn't know who had left it in the first place or why. Could it merely be a coincidence? I doubted it. There was just something about the manner in which it had been delivered that made me think it was a deliberate action, and not accidental.

I squinted hard and looked at the inscription; bit by bit, I was able to make out what was engraved on the inside. It read: "**Love is a spirit of all compact of fire**."

I stood there for awhile, reading and re-reading it until I was sure of what I had read. I was familiar with the quote: it was a love quote from William Shakespeare.

_But what did the quote, the ring and the engraved roses and vines have to do with each other? There has to be a connection somewhere. You have to find out what that is._

I thought for a little while longer, mulling over a dozen different possibilities in my mind, giving serious consideration to some and impatiently excluding others.

_Wait a minute._

Like a bolt from the blue, I had the answer I was so desperately searching for. It all made sense when I put the clues together! I rapidly went over the evidence in my mind: the roses...the love quote.. What was the common denominator that tied these together?

_It was... love! Love was the denominator that tied them all together!_

I had one part of the puzzle. Now I had to figure out the second part: What places could Phoenix gone to in the recent past that dealt with love? I thought a little more.

_The flower shop!!! That's it! It's the flower shop! That's the answer!_

I placed the ring in my pocket, leapt up from the bench and raced down the street to the flower shop. When I came at last to a skidding halt in front of the store, I looked down at the ground and my breath caught. Lying there forgotten in the snow was a bouquet of roses, the soft, red petals dusted with white snowflakes, Queen Anne's lace tucked in between the flowers. A gold-colored envelope was attached to the front.

I stopped short as I looked at the lonely bouquet, marveling that it hadn't been trampled in all the time it had been lying there; it had been a busy evening downtown as was evident from the many overlapping footprints up and down the sidewalk.

I was surprised to see the flowers looking so fresh. By the accumulated snow on them, they had been here for awhile. That inevitably brought up another question as I stood there looking down at them: why didn't anyone else notice them? They were out in plain sight, after all, in a place that no one could logically miss.

_It's almost as if someone wanted me to find it..._

Sobered by that thought, I slowly bent down and picked up the bouquet, keeping a close eye on it as I did so as if I was expecting some kind of trap.

_With this man, I wouldn't put it past him_, I mused, turning the bouquet over and over, looking at it from all angles over every inch. _He's capable of anything_.

Satisfied now that it was just a bouquet of roses, I reached out and took off the envelope, wondering what part this had to play in Kaine's twisted game.

I held it in my hand as I walked back down to the bench and sat down, pulling my trench-coat tightly around me. It was a bitter night that was steadily becoming more so as the night progressed since I could feel the cold through my black gloves but this was only a passing annoyance.

I held the key to this mystery surrounding this clue in my hand but I was hesitant to open it; it's almost as if I could sense that what the envelope contained bode ill for me. I pushed these thoughts away with a gesture of impatience, angry at myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. How those colleagues who disparaged me would laugh if they knew!

_Never mind that now_, I chastised myself sternly, giving my head a hard shake. _You've got other things to think about at the present. Let's get on with it; you don't have any time to waste if you want him returned to you alive!_

I put the bouquet gently on the bench beside me and held up the envelope to the soft light flowing over me from the overhead lamp. It was gold colored and written on the front in beautiful calligraphic script using black ink were the words "**For Miles, With Love, Phoenix**."

_Oh my God!_ I nearly dropped the card in my surprise and horror, my hands trembling._ This bouquet..Phoenix...bought me...this bouquet! It was a gift for...me! He...knew that Phoenix bought this for me... He knew where Phoenix had been... He..._

I felt sick at the implications and the callous way that this had been brought firmly home to me by someone who knew it would hurt. There was no mistake about it; there never had been. I should have seen it coming.

I forced myself to calm down and proceeded to open the envelope with trembling fingers. I was very upset and this revelation shook me much more than I cared to admit, Kaine knowing exactly where to strike that would inflict the most pain.

He was clever and very dangerous if my conversation with him was any indication. He was in control and he knew it; I had no other choice but to go along with it. And he knew me very well.

With those foreboding thoughts in mind, I pulled out a cream-colored card bordered by entwined roses and vines. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I thought of the silver ring in my pocket. It was the exact same design!

I felt my heart sink, my hands falling bonelessly into my lap. Kaine, my Nemesis, was devilishly clever and his scheme even more so. He had obviously planned this out for quite some time, years probably. This was no act of a disinterested party or merely a random occurrence; this was cold-blooded and calculated, the act of someone with a deep and abiding grudge.

I looked down at the card in my trembling hand, tears welling in my eyes as I read what was written on the front of the card:

"**My life closed twice before its close-  
It yet remains to see  
If Immortality unveil  
A third event to me.  
So huge, so hopeless to conceive  
As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven,  
And all we need of hell. -Emily Dickinson**"

I stopped reading for a moment until I got myself under control. Our poem was on the front of the card in the same beautiful script as the outside of the envelope.

I opened up the card and read this out loud, my voice cracking with emotion as I did so:

"**For Miles, the man I love. You are the best part of my world and I love being with you.**

**I just want you to know that I love you and I cherish you more than I could ever hope to say so I trust that these roses will tell you just how important you are to me.**

**All my love, Phoenix**."

I didn't care who saw me. I wept.


	4. Moon & Shadows

_It has been two days since Phoenix was kidnapped by Kaine Mayhew and Miles is on the ragged edge, worry over his beloved's fate furthermost in his mind._ _Things are about to go from bad to worse as Phoenix will be on the receiving end of a madman's fury..._

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa! I am so sorry this has taken so long to complete! A combination of things-including writer's block, a backlog of fics and life in general-served to lengthen the time to complete this chapter. I do appreciate your patience and, at LONG last, here is chapter 4! I'm going to attempt to post a new chapter or story once a month, the upside being that you won't have to wait so long for an update.  
I'm still plugging away at the backlog of fics I have and I think I should be able to catch up in about a year or so, barring any new ideas for fics which have been coming in pretty steadily as of late. At least there will be many new PxE fics so that's a good thing! :)

This chapter also has a new character introduction: the advent of the emerald green-eyed man. He made an appearance in "In The Shadow Of A Dream" and who he is and what his connection to Kaine is will be revealed in chapter 5.

**Thank You** to all my loyal readers! I couldn't do it without you all and thank you for reading and reviewing! I always aim to improve my writing and I'm very grateful for your input, which helps immensely! Thank you also for story favourites and alerts!

**Thank You** to ShadowSuzaku for her excellent beta-reading skills! I appreciate the time and effort you put into reading for me and I also am **very **grateful for your patience, particularly when I send you three revisions in four days. Thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty!

A **HUGE** **Thank You** to my husband, DezoPenguin, for helping me resolve some plot bunnies! I appreciated your input very much and thank you also for your advice, nagging (when necessary), helping me to stay grounded when I feel like tearing my hair out during the writing process and for your tender love and support. I'm the luckiest woman in the world to have you and I am grateful every day for you!

I hope that you enjoy the chapter and, as always, comments and suggestions are appreciated and welcomed. :)

Rated T, Phoenix & Edgeworth, mild language

--o--

October 18th  
3:30 P.M.  
Miles Edgeworth's Office

"_...You see, Mr. Edgeworth, I have a little proposal for you. And, I am sorry to say, refusal is _not_ an option."_

_"...The rules, Mr. Edgeworth?" A pause and then a nasty little giggle. "There really are no rules except this one: You do what I tell you and find what I tell you to find. That's all." A smothered chortle. "It's very simple, really."_

_"You are free to make any choice you wish but remember: he _will _pay for any wrong choices _you_ might happen to make..."_

Kaine's ominous parting words echoed in my head as I stared at the paper that I held in my hand. I had read-and re-read-it a thousand times or more, it seemed, but I still couldn't fully grasp the printed words on the page. I felt like I was disconnected from reality, in the throes of a living nightmare that I couldn't wake from.

My fingers slid into my left hand pocket, tightening around the ring I had tucked away. From the night that I had found it lying at my feet as I sat on that lonely bench under the street light, it very rarely left my person. More often than not, I held it tightly for strength, the quote inscribed on the inside a source of some comfort for me. It wasn't much but it was something.

Swallowing hard, I took it out, turning the silver piece slowly in my fingers. I felt my eyes begin to tear up as I closed them, bringing the cool silver to my lips and placing a gentle kiss on it before I returned the ring to my pocket with a fervent wish that he be brought back to me, alive and unharmed.

_I'll save you somehow, Phoenix. I promise_.

The more I thought of our last conversation, the more I wondered just exactly _how_ Kaine was able to keep track of my movements, _how_ he knew what I was thinking and _how_ he knew what I was planning on doing.

It was raining heavily this afternoon and the dampened gloom did nothing to repair my funereal mood as I read the paper I held. I had too much on my mind and, if the former wasn't already bad enough, I also had to contend with a continuing lack of sleep, both of which were taking their toll on me. I hadn't had a decent sleep in two days and I knew I couldn't continue on in this manner for much longer.

If I broke down-at this point, I was afraid that I _would_-then Phoenix would be lost to me forever. I couldn't let _that_ happen! I _had_ to play Kaine's game and I _had_ to play it well; with Phoenix's life on the line, I couldn't afford to make _any_ mistakes.

What _was_ galling to me personally was that I had plenty of connections that I could call on in order to provide manpower to search for Phoenix but, even as the thought impressed itself in my mind, I knew it would be a lethal move. Kaine had said, quite clearly, "_I would advise you not to contact anyone for help in this game or I promise you Mr. Wright will pay dearly for it._"

Knowing Kaine as I did-although I wished that I _had_ forgotten him-I knew, without question, that he would keep his word to the letter. He may have been one of the most disturbed criminals I had ever had the misfortune to go up against, but he was not a liar. If I made a mistake...

I cut that thought off ruthlessly, quelling the panic I could feel start to rise in me. I _would_ beat that miserable bastard at his own game and would, in the process, save the life of the man I loved; I just had to be _very_ careful in how I went about it. One thing still puzzled me at this point: _how_ did Kaine know what I was doing?

_There has to be a reason why he knows what I'm up to, I just wish I knew what it was!_ I bit my lip, staring blankly out of the window in my office for a moment or two before my gaze turned back to the paper I still held in my hand. _Is he watching me?_

"Mr. Edgeworth?" a familiar voice said hesitantly from my elbow and I slowly looked up from the paper I was reading, my eyes red rimmed and sore from both lack of sleep and weeping. Ever since that terrible day two days earlier when Phoenix had been snatched from me by Kaine to be the pawn in his sick game of hide-and-seek, not a day went by when I wouldn't break down.

The truth was that my nerves were slowly being worn down to the nubs with worry over the fate of my beloved. No doubt that rotten man already knew-although _how_ was the operative word of the moment-that my emotions were summarily out of control and no amount of struggle was proving to be sufficient to bring them fully to heel.

_No doubt that was the _other_ part of his plan_, I reflected bitterly, my fingers involuntarily clenching, crumpling the corner of the paper I held in my hand. _I'll kill that miserable bastard if he harms even _one_ hair on Phoenix's head! I'll hunt him down if I have to!_

"Mr Edgeworth!" the voice said again, louder this time and accompanied by a relentless tugging on the sleeve of my jacket that I violently shrugged off.

"**WHAT**?!" I snarled, whirling around in my seat to see Miss Maya Fey take a few steps backward, alarm clear in her dark brown eyes, her hand flying upwards to cover her mouth. I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to calm down.

_Damn it! I've never lost control this badly before! What the hell is wrong with me?!_ I felt my hands shaking and made a considerable effort to quell the tremors I could no longer hide._ I can't let him get to me like this; Phoenix's life depends on it!_

"I'm... I'm... sorry, Miss Fey," I said quietly, my hand trembling noticeably as I set the paper down on my desk, rubbing my sore eyes with my fingers. "I... didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm... sorry."

"That's all right, Mr. Edgeworth," she said, her voice full of compassion and understanding. "I can't really blame you for feeling edgy... err..." A blush rose in her cheeks as her mouth snapped shut with embarrassment.

"Never mind," I said quickly, smoothing over the unintentional pun on my last name since I'd heard it all before. I managed a sickly smile that, I sincerely hoped, would do the trick although she looked back doubtfully at me and was doing her best to hide it. "It's been my unofficial nickname for many years and I've gotten quite used to it."

_Not really but I had to calm her down somehow._

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "What can I do for you, Miss Fey?"

"I came to ask you if you had seen Nick anywhere recently," she said, her mouth set in a grim line, worry clouding her eyes. "I haven't seen him in two days so I... _thought_ that you might know where he is."

Her eyebrow raised the slightest bit and, while I couldn't quite decipher the enigmatic look on her face, it somehow struck me that she seemed to be _blaming_ me for something, that she thought _I _might be keeping something from her.

I bristled. "_If_ I knew where he was, Miss Fey, I would have told you a lot sooner than this," I snapped angrily, my temper already frayed past the breaking point. As my hands began to tremble uncontrollably once again, I bit down hard on my lower lip, a muffled gasp of pain torn from me, drawing blood from the wound. It was a welcome respite from the ceaseless worry I now lived with twenty-four hours a day.

_It's not as if I would keep anything intentionally from you, Miss Fey, particularly if it concerns the safety and well being of the one I love!_ I ground my teeth in frustration. _I _don't_ play games like that!_

It seemed as if Phoenix's assistant was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, if her fidgeting was any indication yet her eyes still held that accusatory gaze to them. "I figured you would, but still… I…"

I glared at her. "I don't engage in playing games of any sort, mind or otherwise, Miss Fey, and I would appreciate it if you would keep your suspicious thoughts to yourself!" I balled my free hand into a fist. "I don't know _where_ he is and, if I did, don't you think I would have told you?!"

She stepped back, her face a vivid example of warring emotions playing out on her face: anger, worry, fear and, at the last, sincere contrition.

_So I was right. _This, of course, didn't make me feel any better. _What does she think I'm made of? Marble?!_

"I'm... sorry, Mr. Edgeworth," she said hesitantly after a few minutes of tense silence, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. "You're right; I should have known that you wouldn't keep anything like this from me. You know how much I worry about Nick. He's like a brother to me and..." She hesitated a moment. "...I can't help _but_ worry. He _wouldn't_ stay out of touch without telling someone and I'm desperately afraid that something has happened to him."

_Something has_, I thought despondently to myself, looking at the floor and unable to meet her eyes. _And I don't know what to do. I can't do anything that will endanger him but... _

"Miss Fey," I said quietly, "there's something that you do need to be made aware of."

_How am I going to tell her that Phoenix is being held captive by a madman from my past, that he's threatened to kill him if I don't cooperate in playing his twisted little game? How am I going to tell her that my hands are tied, that I don't want to do _anything_ that will give Kaine _any_ reason to harm him? _

I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat so large it threatened to choke me._ How do I tell her about how helpless I feel? How can I explain to her the amount of danger he's in if I get any outside help to pull him out of this? How can I tell her that I'm engaged with an unseen enemy who knows my every move though God only knows _how_?_

She looked at me in surprise. "What is it?"

I took a deep breath.

_Just tell her the truth and get it over with. She deserves that much._ I looked at her and noticed that her face had gone very pale; it's almost as if she knew what I was going to tell her wouldn't be pleasant and she was steeling herself for the blow.

I slowly got up from my seat to bring around another chair for her to sit in. "Sit down, Miss Fey," I said as kindly as I could, indicating with my hand the chair that now sat beside me before I took my own seat. "Please..."

With a worried frown she did so, her clasped hands lying on her lap. I noticed that they were trembling slightly and she was doing her level best to hold them still without any discernible success.

_I don't want to do this since Phoenix's life could be put in jeopardy but... she deserves to know the truth._ _God... this is so hard!_

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Maya asked a few minutes later, breaking the unbearable silence. "Would you tell me just _one_ thing?"

"If I can, Miss Fey," I replied honestly, gathering up my courage. "What is it?"

"Is Nick in some kind of trouble?" Her worried eyes locked on to mine. "Some... _bad_ trouble?"

_As good an opening as any..._

I nodded slowly, my face reflecting the anguish I felt.

"Yes, Miss Fey," I answered quietly, visibly wincing at her gasp, her eyes wide with renewed fear and worry. "He is."

As briefly-and gently-as I could, I explained what had happened two days earlier. An old adversary of mine had returned to extract revenge from me by kidnapping Phoenix. That I had no idea _where_ my old enemy was but he evidently knew my every move-though I was at a loss to explain how-and I had no other option or choice other than to agree to his terms by playing his twisted version of "hide-and-seek." Kaine would have killed him without a second thought and without pity had I refused.

"And that," I concluded unhappily, frowning as I felt the sting of tears welling up behind my eyelids, "is where we stand right now." I looked at her. "I wish I could say this is all a bad dream but it's not. Phoenix _is_ in grave danger and I don't know _what_ I can do to try and extricate him from wherever Kaine is holding him prisoner without him finding out. _Every_ move I make, he knows about. I just don't know how."

Maya had been pale before but now she was positively white as a sheet. She swallowed hard and attempted to regain her composure but I could see that she wasn't taking the news at all well, despite her brave posture.

She looked like she was on the verge of tears and I couldn't really blame her for feeling the way she did; besides myself, Maya was the second person closest to Phoenix and I knew that she was deeply concerned about him. As was I.

_And why shouldn't she? He's one of the closest people to family she has besides her cousin, Pearl._

I hated feeling helpless and I hated admitting to myself that there wasn't anything I could do in the present situation except to wait for Kaine to contact me again for the next part of his 'game.' As I could plainly see, Maya felt the same way and we sat in silence for some time, each wrapped in our own private misery.

When I saw the unshed tears in her eyes, I reached into my pocket and took out a white handkerchief which I handed to her without a word; she took it gratefully and dabbed at her eyes.

"Mr. Edgeworth?" She spoke quietly.

"Yes, Miss Fey?"

"Isn't there_ anything_ we can do?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm not willing to take the chance. Kaine is watching me somehow and I don't want to put Phoenix in any danger I can possibly avoid."

_Such a comforting response, Miles._

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" she cried, anguish plain in her voice, her hands twisting the handkerchief in her fingers until I thought that the fabric would be rent asunder with the violence of her pent up emotions. "I... _we..._ have to do _something_!"

"And what would you suggest?" I grated angrily, waving my hand around in agitated circles. "Do you have _any_ idea what will happen if Kaine even harbors the _slightest_ suspicion that I'm up to something?! Have you even thought of_ that_, Miss Fey?! It's _all_ I think about!"

My hand clenched into a fist and crashed down hard on the top of my desk, causing Maya to jump out of her chair with a squeak of surprise. It hadn't occurred to me at the time that I might have frightened her but I was too emotionally distraught to take much notice. I rose to my feet and began pacing back and forth like a caged animal, frustration and worry rising to the surface.

"Do you have _any_ idea of just _how_ dangerous Kaine Mayhew is?! He's _insane_, Miss Fey! Do you have _any_ notion of just exactly what that implies?!" I stopped and took a deep breath before continuing my relentless pacing. "He's a loose cannon and that makes him unpredictable. That _alone_ is enough to make him dangerous but he's also a genius which makes him even_ more_ of a threat!"

I stopped my pacing and looked her straight in the face. "He_ will_ kill Phoenix if I don't do as he says, you can _count_ on that! Which is why I _don't_ want to push him any more than is _absolutely_ necessary!"

She didn't say a word as I pushed on. "I _know_ the man; you don't! How do you think I feel, Miss Fey?! How do you think I feel knowing that there isn't anything I can do to rescue the man I love _without_ putting him into jeopardy?! That man knows exactly what I'm doing, though I'll be damned if I know how he does! If I make _one_ wrong move..."

I swallowed hard, my throat constricting as I turned to face the window, my hands clenching into tight fists at my side. "...If I make _one _wrong move, Phoenix will _die_, Miss Fey! Is _that_ what you want?!" I pressed my forehead against the chilly windowpane, not wanting her to see the tears spilling down my cheeks like rain.

"No, Mr. Edgeworth," Maya said quietly, in a very subdued voice, as the reality of the situation slowly began to sink in. "That isn't what I want." She hung her head. " Nick's like family to me and I'm worried about him. If he's in trouble, I just wanted to see what I could do... _if_ there was anything I could do to help."

"There isn't anything anyone can do at this time, Miss Fey," I replied dully after a few moments of silence. "My enemy is_ too_ well informed about my movements and I don't want to take the chance of him finding out what I'm doing."

I turned slowly to face her, emotions warring on my face, tears glistening on my cheeks.

"I _can't_ place a price tag on Phoenix's life, do you understand that, Miss Fey? If _anything_ ever happened to him because of something I did..." I couldn't continue and quickly turned back to face the window. By her silence, I had the feeling that she understood.

I was still standing at the window when Detective Gumshoe, accompanied by Ms. Ema Skye, came into my office.

–o--

_Time passed slowly down in the abyss. It was so dark I could barely see the hand I held in front of my face, a dim, faint, white outline was all that I could see._ _It reminded me all too well of something that was dislocated, that had no firm foundation_, _disconnected from the world at large and floating around in the swollen underbelly of the universe._

_It felt so... surreal... and completely removed from everything, including humanity._

_I sighed as I lowered my hand which was quickly swallowed by the encompassing darkness around me, my spirits sinking along with it. I had _no_ idea how long I'd been in this godforsaken place–it felt like an eternity although I knew very well that it wasn't-and, as I lay down on my right side, I tried to console myself with the thought that it couldn't reasonably have been longer than a few days at the most._

Then again_, I thought despondently as I turned over onto my left side, tears welling up behind my closed lids. _Who knows how long it's been? Time means nothing here in the dark.

_The mental images of the roses, a card and those beautiful grey eyes had been coming much more frequently as of late and I was aware of the dim stirring of memory in the back of my mind that I found very disturbing, yet intriguing at the same time._

_I knew these images, somehow, were familiar to me but try as I might, I was still having trouble connecting the three together. I was dead certain that these made a coherent whole but exactly_ how_ to put them together was still evading me at this point._

_Bits and pieces of memories were slowly flooding my mind and I closed my eyes once again, letting them come into my head unbridled by anything other than a mild curiosity to who-or what-they belonged. _

_There were smiling faces that I instinctively knew were my parents, looking down at me with pride and love, mouthing words that I couldn't hear or understand but I sensed that they were proud of me. There were more faces milling around behind them but they were so encased in shadow that I couldn't make them out clearly but, again, I knew that they were connected with me._

Could they have been... relatives of mine?_ I wondered, my brow furrowing slightly, ignoring the slight ache the action caused me. _They_ must_ have been if they're all crowding so closely around my parents. _I closed my eyes tightly, trying to will myself to remember. _Where were we and what was the occasion? Obviously, it was a happy one... but _what_ was it?

_Childhood memories of a time long, long ago quickly replaced those of my parents and I remembered a sleepover at a friend's place, the name Larry flashing in and out of my consciousness. I reasoned that this Larry must have been this particular friend's name but why did I have such a sour yet resigned distaste for this name? And what did the words that were trickling into my mind mean: _If something smells, it's usually the_... _something. _It didn't make any sense to me. _

_More memories came flooding in. I remembered a time from my childhood where I received my first kiss-under duress, I do admit, at least at first-with a beautiful man-child with grey hair at this sleep over. I somehow knew that he was a ... friend... of mine but I still couldn't place his name. _Who_ was this beautiful boy and _why_ was I kissing him? _

_What was even odder-at least from my point of view-is that I didn't seem to really... mind kissing this man-child even though there were three young girls who were more than willing-and wanted very badly to do so-but I refused them out-of-hand, saying that girls were icky and I didn't want girl-cooties on me. _

_It was cruel, I knew, and I did regret it later on but at the time I wanted nothing more than to get them _away_ from me and this was the only way I had to get them to leave me alone._

_I hadn't really _wanted_ to kiss the grey haired man-child-or maybe I did and I hadn't wanted to admit it openly-but in the end I did and pressed my lips rather reluctantly against his. From this conspicuous beginning, I soon found that I didn't want to stop! _

_Surprisingly enough, if the memories were to be believed-and, at this point, there was no reason to believe otherwise-this exquisite man-child didn't mind kissing me, either, although he was just as reluctant as I at first._

What did this all mean?_ I rolled carefully back onto my right side, tucking my arm underneath my head and cradled it gently, making certain not to touch the still-sore knot on the other side of my head. _Why were these memories all coming back now in such an overwhelming tide? _Who_ was this beautiful child and what link did _he_ have with _me_? Something _more_ than friendship bound us together, if the memory of our first kiss was any indication.

_I paused a moment while I digested this information._ And do I know him now?

_This_ _was the last coherent thought I had before an uneasy sleep claimed me, dreaming of the grey haired man-child and I embracing in the moonlight..._

--o--

Detective Gumshoe spoke first.

"Uh... am I interrupting something, pals?" he asked sheepishly, noting the strained and unhappy looks on both of our faces while Ms. Skye stood as still as a statue beside him, her eyes wide with uncertainty.

I sighed loudly and he visibly blanched. "No more than usual, Detective," I said tightly, turning back toward the window, grasping my upper arm tightly. "What do you want and why are you and Ms. Skye here?" I really wasn't in the mood for company and it was plain in my tone.

Gumshoe's face went white and he looked helplessly at Ms. Skye who was doing her level best to disappear into the background as she slowly slid behind him.

"For God's sake, Detective!" I snapped, whirling to face him, my mouth twisted into an angry snarl, both Ms. Skye and Gumshoe taking a few steps back. "I'm_ not_ going to dock your pay! Just tell me _what_ it is you want... better yet, I want to know _why _you're here with Ms. Skye. _If_ you can't tell me that, then get the hell out of my office!"

For several minutes, both Gumshoe and Ms. Skye stood there in shocked silence before the detective turned an accusing look on Maya.

_"What_ did you say to him to get him all riled up like that?!"

"_Me_?!" Maya squeaked in surprise, her voice full of indignation. "I didn't say _anything!_"

I pressed my fingers against my forehead as Maya threw Gumshoe a dirty look before they began arguing, their voices becoming louder as they exchanged heated words for the next ten minutes; Ms. Skye, meanwhile, was doing her level best to appear interested in the philodendron I had on the windowsill. It would have been quite amusing if I wasn't so emotionally distressed.

I looked at the ceiling_. What did I_ ever _do to deserve this?_!

"You _must_ have! _You_ two were the only people in the room when-"

"_How _is _his_ bad mood _my_ fault, Detective?! He's usually_ never _in a good mood, anyway!"

"Hey! Watch what you say about Mr. Edgeworth, Miss Top Knot!"

"You watch your mouth, you big, dumb gorilla! And stop calling me Miss Top Knot!"

"Hey, there's _no_ need to get personal, pal!"

_This is getting us nowhere._

–o--

_To my dismay, any other memory involving the grey-haired man-child was hazy and indistinct but the feeling I had was that we _were_ more than just friends. I began to wonder if we really _were_ lovers, as the shape kept insisting we were and I wasn't inclined to doubt him as I had been in the beginning. Killer the shape most _certainly_ was; liar, the shape was _definitely _not._

_What would be gained by falsehood?__ The shape had _reasons _for kidnapping me and, while I had as of yet_ no _firm idea of what those reasons _were_, they appeared to be something that involved the mysterious Mr. Edgeworth. And I, in some as of yet indiscernible way, was involved _with_ the said Mr. Edgeworth. _

Could it be...?

_This is the conclusion that I came to not too long ago-there really wasn't much else to do in this blasted darkness except think and I had done quite a bit of it since I had been imprisoned here. I only stopped when the pain in my head became unbearable._

_That the shape also hated Mr. Edgeworth for some reason was very clear as well, given that he went into a frothing rage at the mere mention of his name when he had come to my prison to gloat after I was first chained down here. I stayed very still and quiet when he went into these rages or I was liable to come out with bruises or worse when he turned his fists on me. _

_He'd already done so the very first day I was in this place and I resolved not to give him any reason to do so again; his chilling words about not _"wanting to hurt me like he did the others..."_ stayed uppermost in my mind so I was remained quiet and still whenever he was in the dark with me._

_The rusty creak of the metal door opening interrupted my thoughts and I froze in place as I heard the ladder being pushed over the side, whistling through the air and clanging hard on the ground. _

_The resulting rumble sent a fresh burst of pain slicing through my skull and I groaned, rolling over onto my right side and covering my eyes with my hands in order to avoid the slash of bright light that cut through the darkness. _

_I heard someone climbing down the rungs, a soft voice echoing in the dreadful silence. The crunch of the hard ground beneath told me clearly that someone-I assumed it was the shape-had come to pay me a visit, a most unwelcome event from my point of view. _

_What surprised and chilled me was that there was _another_ soft voice in addition to the first in the darkness, murmuring words I couldn't make out. I felt fear clawing up into my throat as I scrambled up from my prone position on the ground and pressed myself against the wall in the furthest corner of my prison, trying to make myself as inconspicuous as I could. _

_There were two sets of footsteps coming toward me, the hard crunch of the ground beneath their feet steadily approaching while I mewled in terror, pawing helplessly against the rough wall behind me in a panic-stricken but futile effort to dig into the wall to hide before sinking helplessly to my knees, breaking into a cold sweat and panting hard with exertion and fear._

"Ah, Mr. Wright,"_ a familiar voice said in a chillingly pleasant tone of voice, _"so we meet again." _The shape sighed as the other set of footsteps stopped in front of me and I winced as a light, from what I suspected was a flashlight, shone directly into my face and temporarily blinded me. _"I regret to inform you that Mr. Edgeworth has broken one of the rules of the game and, I am sorry to say, you will have to pay for his transgression."

_I blinked as I heard a soft giggle emanate from the person in front of me, hearing the unmistakable click of a switchblade being opened. I moaned in terror as I tried to lose myself in the shadows only to be grabbed roughly by my collar, dragged backward and pulled up, my feet kicking helplessly in the air. _

_A soft chuckle made me open my eyes and I was forced to stare into the sadistic face of my soon to be torturer, a rather handsome looking man with a cupid mouth and emerald-green eyes that sparkled with sick glee, a predatory sneer spreading over his features._

_I moaned in horror as I saw the evil glint of the blade in the dim light, my eyes wide open, struggling fruitlessly to escape the emerald green-eyed man's iron grip. I noted, with growing horror, that it amused him to see my terrified eyes following the glint of the blade as he moved it slowly back and forth in front of my face._

"It's time for payback," _he said softly, bringing the blade up to my cheek and pushing it against my skin. I moaned in pain as the sharp point entered my flesh and felt a trickle of blood emanate from the wound. _"You'll pay in full for what Mr. Edgeworth has done." _He_ _smiled a sadistic, satisfied smile as his face moved closer to mine. _"Time to die, Mr. Wright..."

_He pushed the blade deeper into my skin, a scream of agony wrenched from me as he pulled upward..._


	5. Payback

_Miles Edgeworth is in quite a quandry: should he accept the help that Gumshoe, Maya and Ema are offering or shouldn't he? He initially refuses but, as they all refuse to back down once their minds are made up, he backs down and reluctantly agrees to let them help. However, unknown to any of them, there _is _a shadow lurking_ _close by who makes off at once to tell his evil Master of their plans. It's payback for them but danger to Phoenix..._

Chapter 5 is the the transitional chapter in the story and what happens to Phoenix will be revealed in the next chapter. I called this chapter "Payback" for the revenge that Kaine and Umbrae will take out on Phoenix in chapter 6 which is foreshadowed here. They _really_ are a sick twosome, aren't they?

By the way, I checked out-on Court Records-both Miles' and Phoenix's heights since I was wondering just how tall they both were and if there were any official heights set for them: Miles is 178 cm tall (5'10) and Phoenix is 176 cm tall (5'8). I will admit that I was surprised since I thought that they were both taller than that (at least 6 feet) but, thus armed, I will be using these stats from this moment onward when any height of the two is specifically mentioned.

I am very sorry that this is so late. I had intended to get this out much sooner but life in general, my RA flaring up and computer connecting problems over the past while have really shot down that so, with humble apologies, here is the latest installment of "Little Place of Forgetting."

**Thank you** to all my readers! I appreciate your comments, story alerts and favourites immensely! I couldn't do it without you all! :)

**Thank you** to my beta, ShadowSuzaku, for all her hard work, her suggestions and comments! I appreciate it more than I can ever tell you! Much thanks and many hugs for all the hard work you do!

**Thank you** to my husband, DezoPenguin, for his patience, tender love and support and helping to keep me grounded during the writing process! I appreciate it more than I can ever tell you and I am the luckiest woman in the world to have you! :) Love you!

I hope you all enjoy it and, as always, comments and suggestions are appreciated and welcomed! :)

-o-

"**ENOUGH**!"

The sheer volume of my voice was loud enough to cut through the rising crescendo, Miss Fey and Gumshoe both snapping their mouths shut although they continued to glare daggers at each other and Ms. Skye continued to pretend that she was interested in my plants.

_Now that I have their attention..._

"Forgive me if I interrupt this ongoing shouting match," I said sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest and giving both Gumshoe and Ms. Fey a withering look noting, with great satisfaction, that they at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "You still haven't told me why you and Ms. Skye are here and I would appreciate an explanation, Detective... _if_ you can keep from insulting Miss Fey for two minutes!"

I gave the good Detective a sharp glare as he flushed guiltily and looked at the floor, a part of me quite pleased he wasn't able to meet my gaze. After some moments of tense silence, I was surprised to hear Ms. Skye's composed voice from across the room as she answered the question.

"You asked him to look up some things in the law library for you and I decided to accompany him," she said calmly, walking over to me and handing over a large file folder. "We came by to drop it off."

_That's right. I had asked him to do that yesterday. I'd completely forgotten all about it._

My eyebrow rose as I took the folder and, laying it on the flat of my left hand, I opened it, leafing restlessly through the papers it contained. I could feel Ms. Skye's, Detective Gumshoe's and Ms. Fey's curious stares as they watched me in silence.

A few minutes later I put the folder on the top of my desk, an exasperated sigh fluttering from my lips as I clutched the side of my desk, my knuckles turning stark white. It was more than I could have reasonably hoped for and I shouldn't have been surprised, but still...

_I expected too much. I should have known that_ something_ would go wrong._

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard Ms. Skye's concerned voice ask as she walked up to me but I couldn't find the strength to lift my head. "Is something the matter?"

I shrugged off the hand she put on my shoulder, stood up straight and walked over to the window. I rested my forehead against the cool glass, looking out into the stormy night, wondering if my life would ever return to normal and if this nightmare would finally end.

Ms. Skye flinched but made no comment as she slowly stepped back, standing once more beside Gumshoe and Ms. Fey, the three of them watching me in silence.

It occurred to me, belatedly, that I might have hurt Ms. Skye's feelings by my brusque response to her offer of comfort but I couldn't think of the repercussions right now. I had to concentrate on how I was going to get Phoenix back safely which wasn't an easy thing to do since I wasn't really in any shape to be of much help nor could I offer any. I hated feeling so helpless.

"Everything is wrong, Ms. Skye," I said bitterly, still looking out the window into the black, unsettled night. The storm that had been predicted for our area had broken in its full fury and I winced as I heard the crash of thunder and the sizzle of lightning. The lights in my office flickered and dimmed as the wind howled outside, the rain coming down in sheets and clattering against the window.

I stood there in silence, looking dejectedly out the window into the wild night, repeating over and over in my mind:_ Where is he at? Is he all right? Is he afraid of the storm? Is he...? I wish I knew how he was doing..._

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Ms. Fey asked once again, breaking into my thoughts.

I sighed inwardly.

"Yes?"

_The girl's persistent. I'll give her that. _I wasn't sure if this was a compliment or an expression of annoyance.

"If you need help_, _we're here to help as much as we can_. _We_ want _to help you. Why won't you let us?"

I took a deep breath, shaking my head stubbornly."There isn't_ anything _anyone can do, Miss Fey. I_ thought_ I had already made that perfectly clear to you earlier. If I do..."

"That's just it, Mr. Edgeworth," Maya interrupted quickly. "Kaine is on the lookout for what _you_ will do... not _us_."

_WHAT?!_

I whirled to face them, my skin a pasty white. I couldn't believe what I had just heard! They wanted to _help_... me? They _wanted_ to help? They wanted to be put in harm's way to _help_ me?!

_No! I can't let them do this!_

"You _can't_ be serious! You have_ no_ idea _who_ it is you're up against! I can't... I can't... I _won't_ let you put yourselves in danger like this! You'll be easy targets!"

I was desperate. _How _could I convince them that this idea was suicidal enough to make them give it up? There was _no _way I was going to allow them anywhere near _this_ but I wasn't sure how I was going to convince them otherwise since they looked as if their minds were made up already at this point.

_I have to convince them that this is ludicrous and that they shouldn't even be thinking of attempting it! If Kaine gets his hands on them..._ I shook my head violently. _That's something I don't even _want_ to contemplate!_

I took deep gulps of air in order to steady my already frazzled nerves; I_ had _to be calm when I said what I was about to say._ If_ I agreed to this insanity and one of them got hurt-or worse-I would never forgive myself. I already had too much blood on my hands and I didn't want any more deaths on my conscience, particularly when I could have done something to prevent it from occurring in the first place.

I straightened up to my full height of five foot ten, crossed my arms over my chest and glared down at the trio who stood there in front of me, their expressions clearly defiant.

_They aren't about to make it easy for me, are they? Well then, I'll present them with the Demon Prosecutor_ _and force them to give up this foolishness. _I closed my eyes and took another shaky breath. _I _can't _have them getting involved_ _and then have someone get hurt. I couldn't protect Phoenix-_my heart constricted in pain but I forced myself to ignore it_-and I'll be damned if I'll let the same thing happen to them on my account! One kidnapping on my conscience is more than enough. I couldn't bear three!_

"Under _no _circumstances can I permit you three to become involved in this. Kaine Mayhew is _not_ a man to be treated lightly and I can neither guarantee your safety nor any assistance should something go terribly wrong. For that reason, I cannot let any of you get involved in this."

I put up a hand to quell the words of protest I could all but see forming on their lips as I spoke.

"No argument! I_ cannot_ and _will_ not, in good conscience, send _any_ of you out to tangle with an insane monster the likes of Kaine Mayhew. He's too dangerous to even _consider_ trifling with! Believe me, if you fall into his hands..." I stopped for a moment before I continued. "..and he finds out that you're connected with me, I might as well be signing your death warrant because he _will_ kill you, without a second thought."

I gave them all a hard look, one that I hoped would finally deter them from their crazy proposal; it appeared, at least initially, to do just that since I saw them exchanging worried frowns and conversing in low tones.

_Good_, I thought with satisfaction as I saw the various exchanges. _They're thinking about this logically and, once they do, they will realize that this enterprise is much too dangerous a matter for them to involve themselves in-_

"Mr. Edgeworth, Sir?"

"Yes, Detective?"

_- and that my only real concern is for their safety- _

Gumshoe pointed to the thick folder on his desk. "Is there any information in that file that we need to know about before we begin?"

_-and that Kaine is not someone to be..._

The corner of my eye twitched as Gumshoe's question slowly bored its way into my conscious mind.

_Wait... what did he say?!_

"What did you say?" I hissed angrily, narrowing my eyes until I was looking at the good detective through evil little grey slits. Gumshoe swallowed hard and, though his eyes were fearful, the voice that came out was strong and determined.

"Yes, Sir," he repeated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other but refusing to back down. "I said: Is there any information in that folder that we need to know before we start?"

I gritted my teeth._ They_ can't _be serious, can they?! Haven't they listened to anything I just said?!_

"Detective... " I began again, exasperated, but I was immediately cut off in mid-sentence by Ms. Skye.

"We _know _what the risks are, Mr. Edgeworth," she began, her voice low and controlled but earnest as she met my gaze directly. "And we also have a good idea, from what you've told us, about how dangerous this enemy of yours is but... shouldn't it be_ our_ decision to make?"

She took a deep breath and continued while I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing. "To tell you the truth, I'm scared but I owe Mr. Wright a great debt of gratitude and,_ if_ I can help him in any way, I should because... it's the_ right _thing to do!"

_The right thing to do?! My God, does she have_ any_ concept of what she's letting herself in for?! Do any of them?! If something happened to them... God, _how_ can I make them understand?!_

I opened my mouth once again but immediately snapped it shut. If the determined looks on the faces before me were any indication, there wasn't _anything_ I could say that would dissuade them. It was finally clear that they had already made up their minds and there was nothing I could do that was going to move them. I could argue with them until I was blue in the face but it _still_ wouldn't make a bit of difference nor would it change their minds.

I sighed, resigning myself to the inevitable. "All right," I said at last after a few minutes of silence that was broken by whoops and squeals of joy from the trio in front of me. "Since you all seem determined to put yourselves in harm's way and nothing I've said to any of you seems to make the least bit of difference, you've won your case."

I pointed to the file on my desk and they all rushed over to crowd around it.

"Everything you need to know is in there. Read it and re-read it. This man is dangerous and I want you all to be prepared for the worst. I also want you to promise me that, if things go wrong, that you get out." I gave them a hard look to impress upon their minds that I was deadly serious. "_Immediately._"

They all nodded their assent and began chattering among themselves as they opened the file and began to read. I felt a chill go down my back and I glanced briefly at the door before turning my attention back to the trio clustered around my desk.

I couldn't help but feel I was sending them to their deaths but I tried to console myself, as I walked slowly to a column beside the door and leaned tiredly against it, that I had their assurances if something went terribly wrong that they would get out. I trusted their solemn promises and it was with a sense of renewed hope that I looked up at the ceiling.

_Phoenix, I promise you we'll do everything we can to try and find you._ _I didn't want them to get involved but they've committed themselves and nothing I say can dissuade them, no matter how many times I repeated how dangerous Kaine is. It doesn't make any difference; they're determined to put themselves on the line to help you._

A brief, fluttering movement caught my eye for a moment and I turned back toward my office door, my eyes narrowing. I thought, for a moment, that I had seen something but, as I didn't see anything more menacing than an empty hallway, I chalked it up to my imagination.

_It was probably just a shadow,_ I thought, closing my eyes, immersing myself in the chatter and banter going on around me. I opened my eyes a moment later and looked at the ceiling once again._ We'll bring you home Phoenix, I promise. _Y_ou'll be brought home safe and sound, back into my waiting arms and we'll take up our life together from where we left off._

As it turned out, I _should_ have been more concerned about that shadow I thought that I had seen flitting by my office door. It was that shadow who betrayed our intentions to his Master and, as he had promised, Phoenix was made to pay dearly for it.

–o-

_A figure slowly walked out of the Prosecutor's Office, greeting people coming into the building politely before moving on. For all intents and purposes, he looked like one of a thousand people coming in and out of the building and he was careful not to attract any undue attention to himself. That would not serve his purpose or Kaine's._

_The thought of Kaine brought a dreamy look into his eyes and a soft smile to his lips, his fingers softly caressing his cheek, imagining that it was his beloved touching him, a soft moan escaping from him at the very thought, his eyelids fluttering with pleasure._

_Kaine had left _very_ specific instructions of what he was to do and he was proud to have accomplished every task with flawless perfection. All had gone smoothly, as he had suspected it would, and now he was going to contact Kaine and report his success._

_He picked a park bench in the city municipal park two blocks away that was tucked behind a thick copse of trees and sat down, pulled out his cell phone, flipped it open and dialed a number with quick, efficient fingers. _

_He put the phone to his ear, tapping his right foot impatiently on the cement block where the bench stood, occasionally nodding a greeting to those who passed by-secretly wishing that they would leave him alone and let him be about his business-and drumming the fingers of his right hand on the bench's slightly rusted iron-wrought arm rest._

_His eyes narrowed slightly as it continued to ring, nettling him greatly. He wasn't aware of any plans to the contrary and he wondered why Kaine was taking so long to answer the phone when he normally picked up after two rings. All kinds of scenarios presented themselves in his mind and none of them were comforting or pleasant ones._

_He had worked himself into a near seething rage when Kaine at last picked up, most of his anger quickly disappearing as he heard his beloved's voice grating over the line._

It's about time you picked up!_ he thought grumpily, shifting slightly on the bench to seat himself more comfortably, ignoring the odd stare he received from an elderly woman who passed by._

"Kaine Mayhew speaking."

"Kaine?" _The indignation in Umbrae's voice was thick enough to cut with. _"It's about time you picked up! What were you doing?!"

_A muffled chuckle on the other end didn't mollify Umbrae that much; he was annoyed and the tone of his voice made no bones about it._

"Now, now, Umbrae,"_ Kaine said soothingly, in an attempt to mollify his irritated cohort. _"You know I wouldn't be up to _anything_ without telling you first. I was merely visiting with Mr. Wright, that's all."_ Kaine chuckled again, a nasty edge to it._ "He's being most uncooperative_ yet_ again so I thought that we might teach him a little... _lesson, _you could say_,_ in cooperation?"

_The emerald-green eyed man's lips curved into a sensual, cat-like smile._

"Really? Do I get to join you and have a go at him as well?"

"Of course, my love. It wouldn't be enjoyable or nearly anywhere as fun without you."_ Kaine's voice lowered into a sensual purr and Umbrae trembled, his fingers tightening on the phone until his knuckles turned white. _

_Kaine always had this effect on him, even in their youth. _"It wouldn't do, after all, to start without you now would it?" _His voice hummed with raw emotion, causing Umbrae's lips to tremble in a quiet moan; Kaine always knew exactly what to say to make his thoughts falter and body heat with desire and wanting. _" I wouldn't do it without you, my lovely shadow..."

"Mmmm... I really love hearing you say that, my dearest,"_ Umbrae replied breathily, his voice catching slightly when Kaine chuckled dryly on the other end. _"I can't wait to see you again..."

"Nor I."

_Kaine had been a part of Umbrae's life since he was a child and they'd been lovers since he was sixteen. This really hadn't gone down well with either of their families but they remained silent on this issue, with Kaine and Umbrae continuing to enjoy a close romantic relationship unhindered by the blatant disapproval of _both_ sides of the family._

_In retrospect, as for whether or not their relatives approved, neither Kaine nor Umbrae really cared what their relatives thought or whether or not they approved. They were, in terms of blood relations, second cousins, but this really didn't matter to them __since their respective families kept well away from them and left them alone. _

_In spite of the warm emotion they were sharing, it was time to get back to business and return to the matter at hand._

"And, after that _very _pleasant interlude, it's time to get back to business,"_ Kaine said briskly while Umbrae agreed, albeit very reluctantly._ "Any news?"

"Yes, I have,"_ Umbrae said happily, his face lighting up with glee. _"You _were_ right, Kaine. Miles Edgeworth _did_ solicit some outside help to try and assist him in finding his lover."

"I expected as much. Who are they?"

_Umbrae looked down at his notes._

"Detective Richard Gumshoe, Ema Skye and Maya Fey," _he replied, checking his notes again to make sure that he had the correct names and satisfied when he saw that he had the names right, his lip curling at the "Dick" instead of "Richard" in Gumshoe's name. Nicknames were most distasteful to him since he failed to see their point. _"They have some kind of file that deals with you, I think, since Mr. Edgeworth _did_ say to read that file and re-read it."

_Umbrae paused a moment, chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully._ "He seemed _very _reluctant to accept their help but he was finally brow-beaten into it since they wouldn't back down. Is that a violation of the rules that he agreed to abide by?"

"Yes, Umbrae, it is," _came the dangerously quiet voice on the other end and Umbrae had a distinct feeling that Kaine was not happy, not that he could blame him. The rules _had_ been clearly spelled out to Mr. Edgeworth and people who refused to play by them annoyed him so Umbrae could completely understand his lover's irritation with this breach of trust on Mr. Edgeworth's part. _

_Kaine's irritated sigh came over the line. _"He was warned about the consequences of his actions and now he's about to learn firsthand that I keep my word." _Silence reigned for a few moments while Kaine regained his composure, Umbrae waiting patiently. _"Good work, Umbrae."

"Thank you, Kaine."

"Were you seen?"

_Umbrae thought a moment_. "I don't think so; if he did, he must not have thought it was worth investigating or thought that it was just his imagination." _Umbrae laughed._ "He might have thought that he was seeing shadows!"

_Kaine laughed heartily at the pun on his lover's name; it never once failed to amuse him in all the years that he and Umbrae had been together._

"I think you're right,"_ he said after the general merriment had died down and silence resumed._ "At any rate, good work Umbrae. You have done well, my sweet little shadow..."

_Umbrae positively preened at the compliment._

"Is there anything else you wish me to do, Kaine?"

"No, Umbrae. You have done all that I have asked of you and you have done well. Come back to HQ and we'll both have a word with Mr. Wright. _Together_."

_Umbrae definitely liked the thought since he was in possession of a new switchblade. He had purchased it recently and it hadn't, as of yet, been blooded. This would be the perfect opportunity to do so and enjoy the "interrogation" with his beloved Kaine by his side._

"It sounds like a wonderful idea, Kaine,"_ he said approvingly_, _his tongue slowly running over his lips until they glistened. _"A wonderfully and wickedly _delicious_ idea. I'll be there as soon as I can." _He giggled as an after thought came to him._ "Don't start without me!"

Kaine laughed. "Don't worry, my little mite. I wouldn't dream of starting without you. It's been so long since we've worked together that I'm actually happy to have this chance to do so once more." _He sighed_. "Although I'm sure that Mr. Wright will most likely _not_ feel the same way."

"I dare say not,"_ Umbrae agreed._ "But, as you say, Mr. Edgeworth brought this upon himself when he broke the rules and, as per agreement, Mr. Wright will pay the penalty." _He smiled hungrily_. "I'll be there soon. Love you."

"I love you, too, Umbrae. See you soon."

_Umbrae pushed the "talk" button once more and the phone line disconnected. He sat there for a moment before he closed the cell phone and put it in his pocket. He stood and quickly walked out of the park, heading east. _

_He couldn't wait to try out his new switchblade_ _and, in an off-hand sort of way, he was also grateful to Mr. Edgeworth for giving both himself and Kaine this chance to work together again. It had been far too long since they had last hunted together, about four years in fact, if memory served him correctly._

_His cupid-like mouth twisted into a caricature of a smile as he waited at the corner for the light to turn green, thinking of all the fun that he and Kaine would have when he arrived at HQ for their joint visit to Mr. Wright..._

_Umbrae shivered with pleasure at the very thought. He couldn't _wait!

"Thank you, Mr. Edgeworth," _he murmured as he crossed the street and disappeared into an alley two streets over, a sadistic smile slowly creeping over his face._ "From the bottom of my black little heart, I thank you."


	6. End Game

_A/N: For those who may be wondering, Umbrae-pronounced OOM-BRY-is Latin for "shadow."_ A _perfect_ fit for this _very_ nasty, _extremely_ dangerous and _nuttier than a roomful of fruitcakes_ character!

_As promised, Phoenix has been made to pay for Miles' supposed "sins" and has been badly beaten. Now, Miles has to make a choice: do they still try to put their rescue plan into action or should they abandon it, knowing full well that Phoenix's life is on the line? _

At long, _long_ last, chapter 6! I do apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out! (Second Revised version.) Quite a pickle they're both in, isn't it? It gives_ ME_ chills and_ I'm _the one who's writing the story! Those poor boys... things look really bleak right now. Poor Phoenix and Miles... :( Things _will _get better eventually, I promise! :)

**Thank you** to all my readers (and to Stranger-danger for your_ wonderfully _insightful and in-depth commentary! Thank you!) for reading, reviewing, favouriting, story alerting, favourite author/author alerting and commenting! :) I appreciate it very much!

**Thank you** to my beta, Midnight-hunter, for her comments, insights and critique! You** ROCK**! :D

A **BIG **special **Thank you **goes out to my wonderful husband for helping me resolve some plot points and for his suggestions and critique in the Phoenix scene! **MUCH APPRECIATED!!!** Love you!

As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed and very much appreciated! I hope you enjoy this _long_ overdue chapter!

Teen, male/male relationships, Suspense/Romance, Phoenix & Edgeworth

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I was sitting at my desk and the others were chattering away when the call came through on my cell phone. I let it ring a few times before I decided to pick up, my brow creased in annoyance.

_Who could be calling me on my cell phone?_ I wondered, looking at the phone with distaste. I was waiting for another phone call from Kaine and didn't want to be interrupted by any other incoming call. As the phone continued to ring, I sighed loudly as it became quite apparent to me that ignoring it wasn't going to work._ I suppose I might as well answer it; whoever is calling, it's clear they won't stop until I've picked up. I don't want it ringing all day.  
_  
Distracted and with my mind a million miles away, I flipped it open casually, as I'd done a thousand or more times before, never thinking twice about it. This time, however, my eyes widened at the picture I was looking at... and a strangled, horrified moan was torn from my throat as the full horror of what I was seeing on the screen sank in, my shocked eyes confirming it all _too_ clearly.

The cell phone dropped from my nerveless, shaking hands, landing on the top of my desk with a loud clatter and visibly startling Maya, Ema and Gumshoe who were clustered around me. They looked at me inquiringly but their questions seemed to die on their lips after taking one look at my pale face, realizing in an instant that something was terribly wrong.

I could see their eyes flickering over to my cell phone, lying open on top of my desk, seeking to discover what the cause of my distress was. My throat was so tight that I couldn't get any words out and merely pointed, with a trembling finger, to the picture that was on the screen. They leaned forward as one, gasping in horror at what they saw, the color draining from their faces, leaving their skin a sickly, pasty white.

On the screen was a picture of Phoenix, bloodied and battered, lying in a pool of blood that spread out underneath him on the ground. His clothing was torn and in disarray with dark, purplish-yellow bruises on his face and on other parts of his body that weren't covered. He had a particularly nasty gash on his face that appeared to have bled heavily, small beads of dried blood gracing his cheek underneath the ragged, gaping wound, a wide strip of dark crimson going down the side of his face. I tried not to look _too _closely at it since I was beginning to feel sick. And, underneath, this chilling caption: "You _were_ warned..."

I turned away, unable to bear looking at it any longer, my heart sore and bleeding while the shocked faces of Maya, Ema and Gumshoe were visible in my peripheral vision, a soft, sobbing sound coming from one of the girls although I couldn't see which, the other two trying to comfort her. It was small comfort, though it did give me some, just the same, that they were as upset as I was.

My throat tightened and a low moan was torn from me as Kaine's parting words came back forcefully into my mind: "_I would advise you not to contact anyone for help in this game or I promise you Mr. Wright will pay dearly for it_." He'd kept his word, as I knew he would. The burning question of the hour was this: _How_ did he find out about our plan?!

Clearly, _something_ had gone drastically wrong and I wasn't sure exactly _what_ or even_ how_ it possibly could have. It had only been decided twenty minutes ago and, even if it hadn't been but had been concluded earlier, I _still _trusted that Gumshoe, Maya and Ema would keep it to themselves so it was obvious that they weren't the source of the leak. Armed with these facts, I wondered how Kaine had managed to get wind of our plans.

I couldn't make head or tail of it; it didn't make _any_ sense. My thoughts tumbled over one another as I sat numbly there at my desk, my hands trembling, my heart sick. Somehow, and I didn't know _how_, he had found out what we were going to do to rescue Phoenix.

My fingers dug deeply into my hair, grabbing a handful and pulling so hard that tears welled up in my eyes. _How?! How the hell did that man find out?! I _know_ he's not omnipotent!_ I bit my lip as I tried to think of a way that Kaine had discovered the plan that we had formulated.

A few moments more of agonized thinking and it was at that moment that I remembered that curious incident that had happened earlier today when I thought that I had seen a shadow lurking near my office door. I turned it over in my mind, mulling it over for a few moments when, like a bolt from the blue, I had the answer.

_He has an accomplice. That... monster... has an accomplice._

My heart stood still. _Oh, god... that's it! That's it... it's the_ only _answer there possibly could be and the_ only _answer that makes_ any _sense! He's got someone working with him!_

I slowly lifted my head, my eyes wide, my face white as the implication sank in with dreadful certainty. Kaine had to have a cohort, someone who could be where Kaine wanted to be but wasn't at any given moment.

_That was how he knew what I was doing: he had someone else watching me!_ I froze._ If he has someone watching me, then... that means..._ An agonized groan was torn from deep within my throat as I realized now that, by my complete underestimation of just _how_ deviously clever my foe was.

I had, in essence, unwittingly served up Phoenix to Kaine on a silver platter... which was _exactly_ what he wanted. I could only watch and wait, hoping that they wouldn't kill him although, as the picture on the cell phone so chillingly proved, even this seemed too much to hope for.

All I could do was wait.

And hope.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

_I screamed in agony as I was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, curling up into a ball when I felt a sharp kick to my side, my brain exploding with excruciating pain. I pressed my trembling fingers against my face as I tried to make myself as small as I possibly could, preoccupied with protecting my head from the blows and kicks that rained down upon me from all sides._

_Loud, evil laughter rang out all around me as the two shapes kicked and hit me; I spat blood out of my mouth after a particularly nasty punch split the right-hand corner of my mouth and grunted in pain when a booted foot connected with my solar plexus, momentarily knocking the wind out of me. As I writhed on the ground, desperately trying to breathe, I had no way to shield myself from the repeated kicks and blows that were now increasing in number and violence. I could hear snatches of hissed, venomous words spat out at me as the blows pummeled my body and I wondered what I had done to earn such hatred from two people I didn't even know._

_That they hated me was very clear; the reason_ why _was not._

_I really didn't have much time to think or even to formulate some kind of hypothesis because I was having a very difficult time trying to stay conscious as the two men seemed to have gone into a blind rage, kicking me and cursing me at the same time._

_I caught snippets of words in between the blows_: "_This_ is payback for all those years of pain that Miles Edgeworth put me through... and for my brother..." "You deserve _everything_ you're getting, Mr. Wright; _you _are the payment for the crimes of Mr. Edgeworth..." "I'd much rather have Mr. Edgeworth himself here but _you'll _do for the present..." "My knife... my beautiful,_ beautiful_ knife was_ so_ sharp and it cut you _so_ wonderfully... it's such a sweet, _sweet_ feeling..." "Umbrae... Mmmmm... Ahhh, yes...that's it, my precious little shadow... " "Kaine, the blood... it's ..._so._.. beautiful... _so _wonderfully rose red... I must... I..._ must_..."

_I wondered once again exactly what it was that I had done to these people that made them want to hurt me in order to get back at someone called "Mr. Edgeworth." It didn't make any sense: who was this Mr. Edgeworth and how was I connected to him? The large man had been saying this from the moment I was imprisoned here and I was no closer to an answer now than I was when this all began. I hated it when I didn't have an answer to this particular question and I hated shadowy loose ends in particular._

_Another particularly nasty kick to my solar plexus made me gasp, curling up into a fetal position, my pain-racked body contorting on the ground, desperately trying to breathe while trying to avoid the next blow but I couldn't move quickly enough or in time to avoid it and it landed with terrific force on some other part of my body. I groaned in pain as one of my captors scored a nasty blow on my kidneys and, as I twitched and twisted, another blow sent a burst of pain through my head, snapping my head back violently to the left, splitting my lip._

_I thought I could hear someone screaming and I wasn't sure who that was since my own mouth was too swollen to even open. I was confused; as far as I knew, there wasn't anyone down here except for myself and my two captors._

Who could that be? _I wondered, blood dribbling from the left corner of my mouth as I tried to take a breath but couldn't seem to get any air into my burning lungs_. There isn't anyone... save for the three of us... here... _Who _could it be that is... screaming down here in the dark...?

_I didn't have long to wonder since the bigger shadow gave me a particularly vicious kick to the side of my head that snapped my head violently to the right, stars dancing before my eyes. My head swam, dots and flashes of light dancing before my line of vision, making everything fuzzy and out of focus._

_My shaking hands tried to come up to wipe the blood off of my face that was coming from a cut over my left temple but I found I had trouble doing so and even lifting my hand was becoming a problem. My eyes refused to focus and I was having trouble thinking clearly, my body jerking and twitching as if it were a marionette being pulled crazily on its strings by a demented puppet master. I somehow managed to roll over and I began to lift myself up slowly from my prone position until I managed to get up onto my knees when I felt a forceful kick land directly in my ribs. I fell hard face first onto the ground, gasping in excruciating torment as my shaking fingers dug into the hard dirt underneath me, my cheek scraping across the hard packed ground and re-opening old wounds that bled freely, making fresh ones in unmarked skin._

_My body contorted violently, pitching one way and then another as I struggled to breathe, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, trying to get some air into my lungs; I ended up coughing and gagging instead, spitting up another mouthful of blood. I could dimly hear my captors giggling and taunting close by, belatedly wondering exactly what it was that they found so amusing._

_I tried to drag my tortured body back into the shadow as far as my manacles would allow me but I gasped as I felt steel-like fingers dig into my hair, roughly pulling my head back until I was looking blearily at a handsome, though distorted, face twisted with unholy glee, emerald-green eyes glinting dangerously as he knelt down on one knee, drawing me over backwards until I was staring straight up into those glittering eyes. I could just barely, thanks to the blood that had already dried to a crusty texture on my face and eyes from a deep gash in my forehead earlier, make the outline of a larger man hovering near the edge of my peripheral vision, his face a twisted mask of rage, his large hands twitching. I couldn't help but think of those hands wrapping around my throat._

_With a muffled moan of terror torn from me and my eyes rolling, I tried to free myself from his grasp but I couldn't, the man's fingers tightening on my hair, tears of pain welling up in my eyes. He stared down into my face, his nose mere inches away from mine, a savage smile spreading across his face. In the perpetual gloom in my prison, it made him look like a demented clown, his piercing gaze boring right through me._

_I could see his lips moving and I was struggling to focus on what he was saying although it was becoming more and more difficult to do so; everything was fuzzy and out of focus._

"Mr. Wright," _he said slowly, carefully enunciating his words with venom and menace_, "do you understand the reason _why_ you're being held here?" _He shook the hand that was holding my hair, sending a fresh wave of pain through me._

_I swallowed hard, a moan emerging from my throat, my eyes wild with fear and, though I opened my mouth to answer him, I found that I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare dumbly at him, fear washing over me like a tidal wave, tortured gasps bubbling from my bloody lips. It seemed to amuse him, if the glinting of those bright, piercing eyes were any indication, and then bent his head, leaning down until his lips were an inch away from my ear_.

"_You're_ the sacrificial lamb, Mr. Wright..." _he said in a soft, giggling voice that sounded like the joy a demented child might feel who had just been given a butcher knife for his twisted amusement. He squeezed his hand hard, giving it a little shake with the twist of his wrist and I bit my lip hard to keep from screaming_. "We_ can't _get to Mr. Edgeworth..." _He paused, sighing with genuine regret_. "..._yet_, unfortunately. He's _too_ well connected for us to take on openly but _you_... you are the _perfect _target, the _perfect_ substitute."

_He chortled maniacally, the harsh, barking sound sending chills running down my back while eyes fluttered as I struggled to stay conscious and focus on the conversation_. "He'll do _anything_ we want in order to keep you safe; ergo, you're the _perfect _bargaining chip, the trump card in our deck, if you will."

_The smaller of the two shadows, the one called Umbrae, leaned his face closer to mine, brushing the tip of his nose over the torn and bleeding skin of my face tenderly, his tongue slowly scraping over the freshly bleeding wounds, moaning in pleasure as he tasted my blood. I shuddered in fear and disgust, trying to pull my face away but he held me fast and I was forced to endure his unwanted caresses, my stomach twisting into knots._

"Now, now, my_ pretty_," _he crooned softly, the smoothness of his voice holding a steel note of warning_, "you've _already_ made us punish you _once_... You don't want us to punish you_ again_, do _you_, Mr. Wright?"

_I slowly shook my head from side to side, a spasm passing over his face, leaving it hard and implacable as granite. I moaned in terror, realizing just how much trouble I was in and how serious it was. He'd have no hesitation at all about hurting me if it suited his purpose—all I was to him, using his words, was a "trump card" and "bargaining chip" for whatever twisted purposes they had devised._

_Umbrae smiled._ "That's better." _He turned away for a moment and then looked me full in the face, his eyes shining._ "I don't have any qualms at all about killing you, Mr. Wright," _he continued in a dreamy voice, his eyes glittering dangerously as he confirmed my suspicions, renewing my vain efforts to try and get away from him and having no more success now in my attempts than I had previously_. "In fact, _if_ Kaine would have_ let_ me, I _would _have done so already... and I _would_ have enjoyed it immensely." _He looked off into the distance for some time, his lips curving into a sweet, cherubic smile, lifting the hand that still held the bloody switchblade and moving it closer to my throat, turning his head to look at me, his glittering eyes watching me closely._ "It's been such a long time since I... hunted last, you see, and I am afraid that I'm a little out of... _practice_."

Kaine...? Let... you? _Who_... are you?

_I was beginning to lose the battle to stay conscious and I struggled harder against the encroaching darkness that was beginning to surround me in a suffocating shroud, questions tumbling through my fevered brain. A loud, raucous laugh burst from somewhere beside me and I moaned again, realizing with mounting horror that my second captor now stood beside the first._

"Umbrae, Umbrae..." _he said in a chiding voice, sliding one of his fingers gently along the other man's jaw line, drawing happy purrs from him though he cringed a little at the rebuke_. "How many times have I told you not to talk to our... _guest_?" _Kaine leaned over, brushing his lips against the side of his face, his tongue tasting his flesh with great relish, Umbrae moaning as he did so, trembling with unconcealed excitement_. "You _know_ we have to keep him as leverage against Mr. Edgeworth and I would rather you _not _get too... _attached_, shall we say?" _Kaine leaned over until his lips were pressed against Umbrae's ear, his voice a curious mix of firmness and tenderness_. "Do you remember what happened the last time you got too... _attached_?"

_I could literally feel the man holding me flinch._

"You're right, Kaine,"_ Umbrae replied, contrition clear in his voice_. "I-I... I'm... _sorry_."

"That's all right, Umbrae," _Kaine said soothingly and, having made his point to his cohort, I could feel the larger shadow's-Kaine-lips tenderly kiss the shadow who held me-Umbrae-the soft, smacking sound seeming to echo in the gloomy silence_. "Just don't let it happen again..."

_Umbrae purred like a cat as Kaine rubbed his cheek against the other man's affectionately. _"I... won't... I promise..."

_My head swam_. Umbrae...? Kaine...?

_It was clear that both of these men, Kaine and Umbrae, knew this shadow somebody named "Edgeworth" but I wondered why they kept connecting me to him when I had really no idea exactly who he was at this point._

_Those beautiful grey eyes were at the front and center of my mind and I couldn't help but wonder whom they belonged to; it was becoming increasingly clear to me, even in my dizzy and befuddled state, that I knew the person to whom these eyes belonged even if I couldn't remember either the person or his name._

_A hard shake and a stab of pain running through my head brought me back to reality as I struggled to get upright from where I had been thrown to the ground again by Umbrae, feeling hard fists hitting my body once more. I struggled to stay conscious but it was a losing battle as I began to succumb to the darkness little by little, curses and blows following me._

_The last thing that flashed before me was that beautiful pair of grey eyes and I reached out with my hand toward them to touch them before I fell to the ground, embracing with relief the darkness that reached up and claimed me, my eyes fluttering shut.._.

XXXXXX

I stood looking out the window of my office late that night, my heart sore. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been to play right into their hands and not even know it until it was too late. My hands grasped the window ledge in front of me until my knuckles turned white and my fingers ached with the pressure I was putting on them.

_It's all_ my _fault! I _should _have expected this! For God's sake, I _know _Kaine and what he's capable of! How could I have been so stupid?!_ I pressed my forehead against the chilly window glass, my hands splayed out on the glass beside it. _And I played right into his hands like a fool._

I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth._ I _should_ have expected that he would have an accomplice; how else could he know what I was doing otherwise?! I _should _have expected that he would react as he did; he's insane and I shouldn't have forgotten that the insane play by their own rules!_

I looked up, tears welling up in my eyes, a strangled sob emerging from my tightly pressed lips, the lump in my throat so large it was difficult to swallow._ I was a bloody arrogant and deluded fool; I thought that I could outsmart him, that I could out play him and stay one step ahead of him. I_ should_ have expected a thousand other things but I didn't and now it's too late._

The cell phone lay forgotten on the top of my desk, that shocking picture of what they had done to him still on the screen and that caption underneath "You _were_ warned..." burning itself into my mind's eye. I couldn't bear to look at it.

The others had left some time ago, each expressing their heartfelt sympathy but I barely acknowledged them, each one being a knife that pierced my heart and waved them away impatiently. I _should_ have seen it coming but I didn't or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, that I didn't _want_ to face up to the possibility that Kaine could out think me and stay one step ahead.

A storm had broken out but I barely noticed it as I steeped myself in a vast ocean of recrimination and blame, my hands clenching the window ledge even more tightly than I had before. I was surprised that I didn't break it or that it didn't splinter from the pressure my shaking fingers were putting on it but that really didn't mean all that much to me right now and the furthest thing from my mind.

Wood could be replaced but people could not and I now had to face the fact that Phoenix might very well be dead and I, and I alone, had to live with the knowledge that I had unwittingly signed his death warrant.

_Just another death to add to those already on my conscience..._

I was so immersed in my misery that I didn't hear Ms. Fey re-enter the room and I jumped a foot when I heard her cough politely behind me, letting go of the ledge and whirling around to face her, my pale skin flushing a brick red.

"You ever heard of _knocking_ first, Ms. Fey, before you barge into my office?!" I snapped, waiting for my racing heart to resume its normal beating, my hand clutching my chest, giving her an icy glare.

She blushed.

"I'm... sorry, Mr. Edgeworth," she apologized, her hands knotted together in front of her. I noticed that they were shaking even though she was trying very hard not to let it show which _did _go a long way to soothe the irritation I felt toward her interruption. "I... I was just... _in_ the neighborhood and I... decided to... to drop in..."

It sounded like a paltry excuse to me and this was confirmed when I saw the look on her face: she _hadn't _been in the area strictly by chance but_ had_ come here quite deliberately. I knew she was worried and I couldn't really blame her for I was worried and afraid that Phoenix was now dead because of the mistakes I'd made in underestimating Kaine and how far his vile reach extended. If he had Phoenix, then what was to stop him from getting to Maya, Ema or even Gumshoe? I couldn't even protect my _lover_; how could I reasonably expect to protect my _friends_ if Kaine chose to make them his next targets?

I couldn't see why he would target Maya, Ema or Gumshoe-after all, it was me he sought to hurt and the surest way to do that was through Phoenix-but I didn't want to take the chance; I'd already underestimated him once and I was determined not to repeat the mistake.

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Maya's worried voice broke into my thoughts, jerking me firmly back to reality. "I'm... worried about Nick but... I'm also worried about you." She walked over to where I was standing, putting her hand lightly on my arm, her face creased with concern. "What happened wasn't _your _fault, Mr. Edgeworth."

I was stunned.

"Worried... about... _me_...?" I repeated in disbelief, turning quickly back to face the window so she wouldn't see the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks, wiping my eyes impatiently. "Why would you be worried about me? You should worry more about Phoenix who, because of my foolish pride and arrogance, may very well be..." My voice caught and I cleared my throat numerous times until I could speak again. "..._dead_."

Her eyes looked sad but she shook her head firmly, a small smile flickering at the edges of her mouth.

"No, Mr. Edgeworth," she said softly and with deep conviction, "he's _not_ dead. If he_ were_, I'd k_now_."

My eyes narrowed as I turned to face her, skepticism written plainly on my face.

"How?" I asked tersely, folding my arms across my chest. "How would you know if he was dead or not when we don't even know where he's being held and he can't get into contact with us except when Kaine makes his call?"

She smiled.

"I'm a spirit medium, like all the members of my family," she explained, "and, if Nick _were_ dead, I would know since I would be able to contact him."

I had a very hard time keeping a straight face; I wanted to believe her, I really did and I wanted desperately to allow the hope I could feel slowly welling up inside of me but I couldn't at this point since too much had already gone wrong.

I didn't want to allow myself even the slightest sliver of faith that this would all work out in the end because that didn't look like that would happen. What I was afraid had already happened was that Kaine had killed Phoenix and I would be doomed, once more, to walk through life alone but this time with the added guilt that _I_ had been the cause of his death.

_Like my father..._

I shook my head violently.

_No, not like my father! I didn't kill him: von karma did! This is _not _the same thing; I_ wasn't_ responsible for my father's death but I _am_ responsible for this!  
_

"I wish I could believe that, Ms. Fey, but I don't." I sighed, lowering my head to look at the floor, studying the carpet underneath my feet. "We haven't heard anything since the last... _call_... and..." I couldn't go on but I knew that she understood.

"We may be _down_ but we're not_ out_ yet, Mr. Edgeworth. He's _not_ dead; trust me on this!" She was persistent, I had to give her that. "We _need_ to have faith if we're going to get him back!"

_Faith...? In... me? What a joke... Look at what's happened to Phoenix because I underestimated my opponent... and I know him, for God's sake! How could you possibly have any faith in me at all?!  
_

"Faith in... _what,_ exactly?" I asked bitterly, an edge to my voice. "Me? That everything will work out all right in the end and we'll rescue Phoenix?" I laughed, a harsh, barking sound. "Don't be a fool!"

She looked at me and smiled, a curious maternal look on her face. "In _ourselves_... and, more importantly, in _you_, Mr. Edgeworth."

I opened my mouth to say something but promptly shut it again. There was no use arguing with her-it wouldn't have done me any good even if I had, knowing Ms. Fey as I did-and, in any event, she seemed to have already made up her mind and nothing was going to change it.

My mind was spinning while my heart ached, alternating between hope and despair, my fingers pressed tightly against my eyes. I wanted so much to believe her but I couldn't allow myself that luxury. Even if what she said was true-that Phoenix wasn't dead-it still didn't solve the problem of how we were to rescue him if both Kaine and his associate were watching our every move. I had already underestimated the depth of my opponent's hatred and Phoenix had been the one to pay the price. I couldn't allow it to happen again.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart and thoughts. I needed to think of a way to rescue Phoenix and I couldn't do that with my emotions screaming skyward so I took deep breaths, murmuring something underneath my breath until I had calmed down. With my emotions now reaching a slightly sedate point, I could now think and I pondered the problem, Ms. Fey standing quietly beside me, her hand still on my arm. Some time later, I had a few ideas of how we could even the score and I pondered each one a little longer, going over the pros and cons in my mind.

I needed to make certain that this time neither Kaine and his associate were sniffing around in the dark somewhere and, as this had so chillingly proved, it was very clear that they could be lurking_ anywhere_. We had to be very careful and move as quietly as we could to avoid detection. If anything, I wanted to surprise them and keep them in the dark about my movements as much as possible; that way, I hoped that I could keep Phoenix safe and marginalize the damage that could be inflicted upon him since he had already been beaten quite savagely and I doubted that he would survive another.

_I want to make sure that this doesn't happen again._

The end game was now going to begin. Much like an intricate game of chess, we were now ready to make our move as quickly, and as quietly, as possible. I looked over at my desk and snatched my cell phone, hurriedly pushing the "talk" button, breathing a sigh of relief when the picture vanished from the screen, a sentiment that was echoed by Ms. Fey as well as she removed her hand from my arm.

"_I _believe in you, Mr. Edgeworth," she said quietly, "and _Nick_ believes in you, too."

I swallowed, nodding once.

"I certainly hope so, Ms. Fey," I replied, turning toward the door and resting my hand on the doorknob, "because the hard part is now beginning." I turned to look at her, my expression serious yet determined. "We can't afford to make _any_ mistakes from here on in or..." I couldn't finish but I didn't need to; we both knew what it was that I couldn't bring myself to say.

On that somewhat somber note, I turned away and opened the door, walking quickly out of my office with Ms. Fey following quietly behind me. I fervently hoped, as I closed and locked the door behind us and started walking down the dark corridor, that this time we would be the victors.

_And I'll have you back..._


	7. Unanswered Prayers

_A/N: I do not own Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Ema Skye or Maya Fey; CAPCOM does.__The plot, however, and Kaine and Umbrae are mine. :^)_

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_**  
**

_Events have come full circle as Miles realizes just what the connection between himself and Kaine Mayhew is. Kaine's reasons for kidnapping Phoenix are now crystal clear but the burning question of the hour is this: now that Miles has the knowledge that he has been searching for, has it come too late to save Phoenix?  
_

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

At last, chapter 7 is up! :^) Sorry its taken so long! Its nice to have one plot line wrapped up and the next will begin in chapter 8! :)

Be careful, Dr. Benson! You don't know who you're dealing with! The man _does_ have courage, though, to stand up to those two. Dr. Benson is your average, elderly physician with a huge heart and concern for his patient. He's also a very good man and you know what they say about those who are good...

Poor Phoenix, alone in the dark with the monsters and no one to save him... things look really bleak right now.

We also know who is the seme in Kaine and Umbrae's relationship... and it _isn't_ Umbrae! (I have a feeling that Kaine will end up regretting smacking Umbrae at some point since Umbrae isn't the type to forgive and forget, not by a long shot!)

As always, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and any comments or suggestions are welcome and appreciated! :)

_Thank you, as always, to my readers who frequently read-and even re-read-my stories and those who have commented, _ read, reviewed, favourited/story alerted my stories and thanks also to those who have author alerted/favourite authored, as well! I appreciate it very much! I am glad that you are enjoying my stories and I hope that you will continue to enjoy them in the future! :)

**Thank you **to my beta, Midnight-hunter, for all your comments and insights! I really appreciate it! :) *Bonus thanks for suggesting the chapter title!*

**Extra Special thanks **to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all your encouragement, love, advice, concern, support, nagging [when necessary] and for reigniting the fire within me to write! Love you, honey, and thanks!

Teen, male/male relationships, Suspense/Romance, Phoenix & Edgeworth

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

_My first memory on regaining consciousness was one in which angry voices were raised. Someone was shouting at someone else in a quite strident tone and the loudness of it was beginning to give me a headache._

_Apparently the argument had begun some time before and was well seasoned by the time I finally was aware of the world around me. My whole body ached from the savage beating that had been inflicted on me by both Kaine and Umbrae and I tried to remain as still as I could since it hurt less that way although the smallest twitch sent another burst of pain throughout my body._

_The voices became louder as the argument became increasingly heated and I wished that they would take the shouting elsewhere and let me nurse my wounds that they had so thoughtfully inflicted on me in peace._

"You stupid fool!" _I heard a deep, booming voice yell and I knew that it was Kaine_. "You bloody, bloody _stupid_ fool! _What_ were you thinking?!"

_A smaller, more subdued voice tried to respond but was immediately cut off by Kaine's bombastic shouting._ "I _told_ you not to go too hard on him; it won't _do _to kill him, after all! In fact, it would mean the _end_ of the game and the end of _any_ chance for me to get justice for my brother!" _I heard a sharp, smacking noise that sounded like something meeting flesh followed by a loud gasp of pain and surprise_. "You stupid, _stupid_ fool!"

_I clenched my teeth as the latest in a series of painful bursts raced through me, tears springing to my eyes as I writhed in agony on the cold ground. My mouth felt swollen five times more than normal, a small ribbon of bloody saliva trickling from the split left hand corner and I coughed, bringing up another mouthful of blood._

_Kaine wasn't finished with berating his colleague yet and his angry voice reverberated throughout my prison._

"_How_ could _you_ be so _stupid_?! _How_ many times have I told you that he _must_ be kept alive?! How many more times will I have to tell you before it finally sinks into that thick and muddled head of yours?!"

_Kaine sounded very angry with Umbrae and this was quite a surprise for me since I thought the two to be so in tune with each other that arguments either didn't happen or they were very rare. As it turned out, I was wrong although the knowledge I gained here would serve me well in the future._

_I turned my head quickly, ignoring the agonizing spasm that raced through me as I spat it out onto the ground, my entire body one large mass of twisting, writhing agony._

Oh, God... Make it stop... Please... MAKE. IT. STOP!

_Despite my best efforts, a agonized moan escaped through my clenched lips, my head slowly rolling from side to side, my eyes tightly closed. Pain pierced me like a spear in my most vulnerable parts and, although I now knew that I wasn't dead, I sure wished I was._

_As the argument reached a new, shrill crescendo, I found myself wondering just how much damage had __been inflicted; by the way I felt, I had to think it was considerable. I couldn't even move without a wave of pain pulsing throughout my body and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep myself from screaming. I could taste blood where I had bitten my lip to keep the sound muffled since I didn't want to alert either Kaine or Umbrae to the fact that I was now conscious, fearing a fresh wave of beatings. _

_Behind my swollen, closed eyes, I could see a face and it seemed familiar, somehow. The piercing grey eyes that shone from it had a look of tender compassion and love and I reached out with a mental hand, trying to touch that lovely face, drowning in those grey eyes, my breath catching in wonder in my throat..._

_I had no idea that I had actually lifted my hand and that the clinking of the manacles around my wrist had somehow managed to make it through the din where the two men heard it. I wasn't even aware that the voices had stopped-I was too busy trying to touch that beautiful and achingly familiar face-until I saw the blurry outline of Kaine's face coming close to mine, an unholy look of glee on his craggy features._

_I shuddered, flinching as another painful wave crashed through my head and I bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying out; I could feel a small bead of blood trickle from beneath my bottom lip and travel slowly down my chin. Once the spasm had passed, I opened bleary, unfocused eyes to see another shadow standing slightly behind and to the right of him and I surmised that Umbrae had also come to see what all the commotion was although, to my knowledge, there hadn't been any. I feebly tried to shield my eyes as the piercing light from the flashlight that Kaine held tightly in his hand sliced across my face in a wide arc._

"Well, well... so you're finally awake, Mr. Wright," _he said with satisfaction and I could hear Umbrae's huge sigh of relief from somewhere behind him._ "Believe me when I say that we are both _glad_ of it!"

_Had I the ability to speak I would have scoffed at this seeming piece of drivel but, for some odd reason, I believed him although I wasn't really sure_ why. _There seemed to be a note of sincerity in his voice and the relieved look on Umbrae's face gave some credence, at least, to his words._

_I thought that I'd heard another voice in the background that sounded lower and agitated but I didn't have much time to think about it before my eyelids fluttered shut a few moments later, slipping back into the encompassing darkness, that beautiful face once again coming into my mind..._

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard a soft voice say and I looked up to see Ema Skye standing there, her hands twisted into knots.

"Yes, Ms. Skye?" I replied, shaking off mental cobwebs and firmly re-encompassing myself in the present. I took off my glasses and rubbed my red-rimmed eyes tiredly, the file I had on my lap tipping precariously to the left. "What can I do for you?"

She hesitated for a moment, indecision plain on her face before she answered.

"We think that you should take a break. You're working much_ too_ hard... and it _isn't_ good for either you or the investigation." She bit her lip, her fingers knotted together. "You _need_ to rest or you'll burn yourself out and what good will you be to Mr. Wright then?"

My eyebrow rose. This was surprising to hear, particularly from her.

"Really?" My voice was as hard as flint as I stared back at her, my eyes narrowing. I could feel my temper beginning to rise but I fought hard to quell it and managed to tamp it down. "I would have thought that _I_ would be a better judge of that than _you_."

She flinched noticeably but stood her ground.

"Regardless, Mr. Edgeworth, we think you need to take some time off in order to..."

"_We_?" I interrupted, annoyance plain in my voice and she flushed. "Who, exactly, are '_we_'?" I already knew who she was referring to but, in my opinion, she was taking liberties that I felt she had no right to and it annoyed me immensely. I determined, then and there, to put a stop to it. I appreciated their concern but they needed me in on this investigation since I knew _who_ it was that we were dealing with.

"Detective Gumshoe, Maya and I," she replied, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

"Is that so?" I looked at her, my eyes glinting dangerously with anger and she took an involuntary step backward, her eyes downcast. "I do appreciate yours and the others' concern, Ms. Skye, but _I_ don't agree with that assessment and I should think that _I_ am in a much better position than either of you three to make a judgment call on when I'm tired and when I need to rest."

My eyebrow rose with the last word. I hoped that the rebuke would sink in and I thought it had when I she flushed. Having made my feelings known on the subject, I decided to leave it at that.

"But, Mr. Edgeworth-" she began before I cut her off with a hard look but, undeterred, she took a deep breath and tried again. "You need to rest! If you collapse, who's to lead us then?"

I rolled my eyes upward to look at the ceiling, mentally counting to thirty five times, trying to cool my steadily rising temper. It wouldn't do to kill her, after all.

"But..."

_I know that this is only prompted by their concern for me but this is going_ too _far!_

"No _buts_." I waved her away with a dismissive twist of my hand. "This conversation is _over_." I crooked an eyebrow at her, my lips pressed into a thin, angry line. "Unless you have something _else_ you want to get off your chest?"

She shook her head mutely.

"Good." I went back to looking at the file that was spread out over my desk, my eyes burning from the effort but I refused to take a rest. Kaine had Phoenix and I had better damned well find out where before something else happened. I might not be so lucky next time...

As it turned out, my prescience was indeed to prove rather prophetic for there _would_ be another death, one so horrific it gave me nightmares for months afterward.

There was no time for hesitation since the monsters were loose and on a rampage... and we had to do all we could in order to stop them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_I slowly came back to the world again after what seemed like an eternity in the dark. A burst of fresh pain ripped through me, so intense that I barely noticed when someone tentatively touched my cheek with gentle fingertips._

_I hissed in pain, my teeth clenching together so hard that it made me look like a grinning death's-head and jerked my head away to the left, sending yet another wave of agony throughout my body. Try as I might, I couldn't completely keep the muffled scream that came from between my gritted teeth, my fingers clenching so hard that my nails dug bloody moon-shaped welts into my palms while tears poured down my face._

"Easy... easy there, lad," _a low pitched, soothing voice said tenderly in a thick Scottish burr._ "Take it easy and just lie still for a little while. You've been badly hurt and you're going to need to lie quietly for the next few days. I'll do what I can to make you comfortable but you _must_ remain quiet. Do you think you could do that for me?"

_I nodded, once, crying out as another wave of pain flowed through me and this one was the worst yet. I couldn't help the convulsing, jerky movements of my body as it twitched and danced on the ground, my arms flailing in all directions. I felt a firm hand push gently, but firmly, on my shoulder to try and restrict my movements as much as possible but it proved to be a difficult venture when I was flopping around like a fish out of water._

"Easy, boy, easy!" _I heard the Scottish voice command._ "You _need_ to lie still in order for me to help you! I _can't_ help you if you're flopping about like that!"

_I screamed in agony as I tried to do as the voice commanded me but I couldn't. I was in the grip of convulsions, my back arching back so far it looked like a bow pulled back and notched with an arrow._

"Damn it!" _the man swore and I could hear some commotion in the background that sounded like someone opening a bag and rooting around inside to find something_. "Don't just stand there like dolts; help me or we'll lose him!"

_I heard twin gasps of surprise coming from somewhere in the dark and then the sound of scrambling feet rushing over to where the Scottish man and I were at. I marveled for a brief moment at his courage in speaking so forthrightly to Kaine and Umbrae which was then lost in a sea of pain._

_The world around me dissolved and I was only aware of the burning agony that flowed through me like a tidal wave. I dimly felt hands on my arms and I struggled to break free of them but all my efforts were in vain for they held me fast in their iron grip._

Let... me...go... Please...!

"Easy now! Treat him gently for God's sake; he's _not_ a damned side of beef! Damn it! Are you two mush for brains deaf?! I said _TREAT HIM GENTLY_!!!!"

_I could hear twin grumblings that were instantly silenced by the Scottish voice but I could sense the __impotent rage that was lurking beneath the surface of both my captors. I only hoped that the Scottish man wouldn't be in danger for defying them._

_I could feel my sleeve being rolled up, something wet brushing lightly on my skin and then felt the prick of a needle going into my arm and I redoubled my efforts to get away that were, again, in vain. I felt something flowing into my arm and the needle was withdrawn with a sigh of satisfaction from the dark shape that loomed over me. I could barely make out a kindly, round face with a shock of white hair, hazel eyes and bushy eyebrows in the dim light provided by the flashlight that looked down at me, concern plainly written all over his countenance._

"Lad, are you all right?" _I heard the voice ask and I shook my head slowly, since I couldn't find my voice. The something that had been injected into me was soothing and I was having a tough time staying conscious._

_I could see the face leaning over mine through my half-open eyes, gentle fingers opening them slowly and peering into them. His face was a mix of concern and disgust, his mouth twisted into an angry sneer of distaste and then stood up, his voice ringing loudly in the darkness._

"What the hell did you two animals do to him?!" _he demanded, his voice liberally laced with equal measures of scorn and disgust._ "There's _no_ way that he could have received injuries _that_ severe from just a fall! _What _did you do_?!"_

_I could hear someone-Kaine, I thought-mumbling something, with Umbrae chiming in with more stuttered words. I could hear the Scottish man's reply; it wasn't at all complimentary and was well seasoned with invective. I could all but see both of them cringing under it._

Don't... don't... do... that... They'll... kill... kill you.... if you... if you... do... _I thought desperately, trying to turn over but my body felt like it weighed a ton and I was dizzy as well. I turned over but only very slowly, every nerve in my body singing with pain. My mouth opened and closed but no sound emerged._ Please... don't... make them... angry... Please... don't leave me... here.... alone.... in the dark... with... with... **THEM**...

"How could you two do something so horrible to another human being?! My God, rabid dogs are much _more_ merciful to their prey than you two monsters were to this poor lad!"

_Stunned silence greeted this pronouncement and I cringed at the backlash I knew would come._

"How... dare _you_?!" _Kaine hissed through what I assumed were clenched teeth and I could hear Umbrae echoing his outrage at the man's indictment of their characters._ "How... dare you, you pompous... _ass_!"

_I heard a disdainful sniff._

"Call me what you like," _the man retorted, his shadow very close to Kaine's, his angry voice deceptively soft_, "but if I find out you've been using this poor lad as a punching bag _again_, I'll go _straight_ to the police. Do I make myself clear?!"

"Perfectly," _I heard Kaine say stiffly after a long, strained silence. I cringed at the implication in his __voice that the other man didn't seem to catch._

Please... don't leave me here in the dark... with... the monsters... Take... take me... with you... please... out of the dark...

"You'd better," _the Scottish man warned and I could hear the outrage in his tone that neither Kaine nor Umbrae could have failed to catch_, "or I'll not hesitate to report you both."

_I could hear the indignation in Umbrae's voice as he sputtered something but I heard Kaine whisper an aside and he immediately fell ominously silent; I could feel the tension in the air crackling with unspoken threats and counter-threats and I hoped that the Scottish man hadn't bitten off more than he could chew._

_I had a bad feeling, however, and it only grew stronger as time went on. Things would not work out well for the kind, Scottish man as I would find out to my horror and distress later on._

"I'll be back tomorrow to check on him. I'd better find him _untouched_... or _else_..." _The unspoken threat hovered in the air._

_I heard Kaine snort in derision but there was something in his underlying tone, some sort of hidden menace that instantly put me on my guard. The Scottish man seemed oblivious to any change in Kaine's voice that trumpeted a warning to tread very carefully around these two._

_I couldn't figure out why he seemed so oblivious to the very real threat Kaine and Umbrae possessed; he either didn't know, didn't care or he wasn't afraid of them; perhaps it might have been a combination of all three and I wondered where he was getting this kind of courage from._

_I knew better. I wanted to cry out to him, to tell him to be careful, to be wary of both Kaine and Umbrae since they were _very_ dangerous men, but the words stuck in my throat and, as hard as I tried, I couldn't seem to get them out._

"On my word of honor, we _won't_ touch him," _Kaine replied calmly and I could all but see those narrowed eyes glinting dangerously along with Umbrae's emerald-greens whom I assumed was standing either right next to him or slightly behind him to his right._ "We... _promise_, Dr. Benson."

No... don't listen to them, Dr. Benson! Don't listen to them...! They'll... they'll...

"I'll hold you boys to that. I'll be back tomorrow to check on him and the day after that if necessary." _There was some clicking and scuffling noises in the background for a few minutes before silence returned in the dark, the light from the flashlight receding into the darkness along with Kaine, Umbrae and Dr. Benson._

Come... back... Please, come... back...!

_As the light slowly dimmed the further away they got from me, I mewled in terror, reaching out my hand to empty air, dangling helplessly before it crashed to the ground, pain flowing through my wracked body like a tidal wave. I screamed in agony, my cries lost in the uncaring darkness that was my prison._

Don't leave... me...! Please!_  
_

_My one hope for salvation... and he was gone with my captors. My prayers for deliverance had gone unheeded.  
_

Don't leave... don't leave me... here... in... in the... dark...with... _THEM_... Please... don't leave me... with... the monsters...

_I rolled over on the hard, uncaring ground, the black abyss opening up to receive me as I sank once more into merciful oblivion, those beautiful grey eyes there to greet me once more in the dark..._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

I rubbed my eyes tiredly as I stared at the file for what seemed to be the millionth time that afternoon, a cup of darjeeling tea sitting placidly on a saucer next to me on my desk. I'd read, and re-read, it over for what seemed a thousand times and I was no nearer to an answer than I was when I'd started.

I sighed as I picked up the dainty pink china tea cup, taking a tentative sip and swallowing the fragrant tea with gusto after the first taste of it had exploded over my taste buds.

_Well... that's one good thing that's happened today_, I mused, taking a larger swallow. _Its amazing how a good cup of tea can make someone's day a little brighter._ I looked down at the files spread out over a good portion of my desk, grimacing a little as I did so. _Too bad the file_ isn't _one of them..._

Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe had gone to the local burger joint for lunch while I elected to stay behind and work on the files, promising them that I would eat _later_. After the three of them had ambled out of my office, closing the door quietly behind them, I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes.

Ms. Skye was right; I _did_ need rest but I couldn't afford to, the picture on my cell phone screen once again pushing forward to the forefront of my mind. I _didn't_ want a repeat of that because I doubted that Phoenix would be able to survive a second vicious beating and I wanted to make sure that I didn't put him unwittingly into harm's way as I had before. I _wasn't_ about to make the same mistake twice.

_There is a limit to what the human body can take, after all and I'd rather not put that to the test again if I can possibly avoid it!_

I groaned as I slowly straightened up, uncrossing my arms and rubbing my eyes with weary fingers, staring at the papers spread out across the top of my desk.

_Time to get back to work..._

The words seemed to run together in one large, blurry lump of text. I sighed and rubbed my eyes again, blinking a few times to clear my vision and reluctantly picked up the page that was lying on top of the pile, forcing myself to start reading again.

After awhile, I felt like sweeping my arm across the pile of papers on my desk, my frustration level increasing. There really wasn't anything here that was of any help-with the sole exception of a newspaper clipping detailing a criminal's trial, sentencing and subsequent execution-to us presently and, had I not remembered that I was sitting in my office, I would have screamed.

I clenched my hands together into tight fists, pressing them against my temples. There was something in here I had overlooked that was very important and I couldn't find it. Something I had seen in this file many years earlier had triggered a memory from my first years as a prosecuting attorney and it was in this pile of papers somewhere, I knew it was.

_It should be in here, damn it! Where the hell did it go?!_ I shuffled impatiently through the pile of papers again and, after half an hour of searching, I eventually discovered what I was looking for.

_Finally!_

I scanned the paper quickly for information and then looked at the picture that was clipped to its edge. Thinly pressed lips, hard and flinty agate eyes set in a square face stared stonily back at me from across the years and I sat for a long time in silence, wondering _when_ I had seen that particular face before and _where_ I had had occasion to meet this individual.

After some time, I suddenly sat up with a jolt, remembering where it was that I had met this man before... and on what occasion.

"Oh, my God," I murmured softly, understanding slowly beginning to spread through me, "at last, I've found the answer. After all this time, I've _found_ the answer I was looking for!"

I looked at the name at the top of the file again: _Mayhew, Neill_. _This_ was the connection that I had been searching for, the connection that made sense!

_I was right... _This_ is what connects Phoenix to Kaine, if only through_ me!

I slumped back in my chair, my hands shaking slightly. The connection between the photograph in the file and the reason why Kaine had kidnapped Phoenix in the first place were now crystal clear as were his venomous hissings about _revenge_, _justice_, and _retribution_; it also explained why Kaine had chosen the role of Nemesis, as well. I shivered at the implications as I mentally tied all of it together.

_It all makes sense now... It was so simple! Why didn't I realize this sooner?! If only I'd_...

I thrust that thought away with a vengeance. Self-recrimination wouldn't do me any good now and there was no time to waste on feeling sorry for myself for not making the connection earlier. We _had_ to save Phoenix and time was running out.

I fished blindly in my pocket for my cell phone in order to call my associates and I thought of how a man's past actions can come back to haunt him and how true this was in my case. I'd not had contact with either man for many years and I wished that neither of them had popped back into my life, even if one was only in a photograph. It was the other, _living_ man that I was concerned about.

As I quickly dialed Ms. Skye's cell phone number with shaking, nervous fingers, put the phone to my ear and waited impatiently for her to pick up, I only hoped that this revelation hadn't come _too_ late to save him.


	8. The Good Doctor

_A/N: Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Maya Fey, Ema Skye and Detective Gumshoe don't belong to me; they belong to CAPCOM. The plot, Kaine Mayhew and Umbrae, however, are mine. :^)  
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_Phoenix is healing slowly under the tender care of Dr. Benson. However, there is a palpable danger in the air and a menace that is slowly making itself known to Dr. Benson who begins to sense, perhaps belatedly, that there is something awry. Phoenix fears the worst for the good doctor who's done so much for him, fervently hoping that he will curb his tart tongue before it's too late.  
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_  
Chapter 8 is here... and a new plot line begins! Phoenix is trying to get across to Dr. Benson that he is in terrible danger if he continues to verbally lash Kaine and Umbrae. You have to admire the good doctor's courage although, belatedly, he also begins to get the sense that there is hidden menace and a hidden danger to himself lurking here in the darkness; however, it _won't_ be enough to dissuade him from his course and the good doctor will continue to be a thorn in the side of both psychotics until the course of events follows their destined path. Phoenix knows better than anyone, even in his semi-comatose, semi-amnesiac state (his memory is slowly coming back although there are still things he doesn't _quite_ understand or fully grasp yet), that Kaine and Umbrae are not people to be trifled with and it seems now that the good doctor is starting to realize that something doesn't feel _quite_ right with these two men... and that he could possibly be in some danger. He's right on both counts as events to come with ultimately prove...  
Kaine and Umbrae, meanwhile, _aren't _rolling over and playing dead although they _may_ seem to be doing just that. They're _not_--they're simply biding their time which is why Phoenix hopes that the two won't hurt Dr. Benson if the good doctor leaves them be. Forlorn hope but a hope just the same.

Poor Phoenix! How frustrating it is for him to know what he wants to say and being unable to say it because his body refuses to work properly.

I've written it bouncing back and forth in time since I wanted to show that time is passing and also to give Phoenix a realistic time to heal before proceeding with the events to come as they play themselves out in an orderly-sort of. Events seem to have their own rules as to the way they unfurl-fashion. Also, in Phoenix's P.O.V. presentation, I have location and time listed as unknown which is perfectly in tandem with what he would be aware of at the time; he's been in the dark for awhile and, therefore, time would have no real meaning for him and he wouldn't know exactly what would be happening on any given day because he has _no _idea when the day begins or ends. One way he might be at least theoretically able to be aware of the days passing would be Dr. Benson's frequent visits to make certain that he's all right and that he's being treated well but this would pass by in a heartbeat as a chimera and be lost in the encroaching darkness. At any rate, he's still not quite aware of the passing days although he knows that time has gone by; he just doesn't know _how _much. Anyway, I hope it works and works well and doesn't prove to be confusing.

This chapter is also a little Dr. Benson-centric since he will be the showcase for the next chapter...

Hope you all enjoy the chapter! :) As always, comments and suggestions are definitely and gratefully welcomed! :^)

_Thank you, as always, to my readers who frequently read-and even re-read-my stories and those who have commented, _ read, reviewed, favourited/story alerted my stories and thanks also to those who have author alerted/favourite authored, as well! I appreciate it very much! I am glad that you are enjoying my stories and I hope that you will continue to enjoy them in the future! :)

**Thank you **to my beta, Midnight-hunter, for all your comments and insights! I really appreciate it! :) Kudos to you for suggesting the title! :^)

**Extra Special thanks **to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his encouragement, love, concern and for reigniting the fire within me to write! Love you, honey, and thanks!

Teen, male/male relationships, Suspense/Romance, Phoenix & Edgeworth  
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_Three days later..._

_October 21st_  
_Location unknown  
Time unknown  
_

_The darkness seemed impenetrable as I slowly clawed my way out of unconsciousness, from a myriad of bad dreams that were swiftly turning into nightmares. I could feel my hands curling into claws as I fought my way out of horrible dreams, my sore mouth twisting into a grotesque caricature of a grimace, my teeth grinding together with a terrible, gnashing sound, a thin scream being torn from my tightly pressed lips. Something was terribly wrong.  
_

"Easy lad, easy!" _I heard that wonderfully familiar voice-that I now knew belonged to the shorter, squatter shape whose name was Dr. Benson-say, touching my arm with a gentleness that surprised me as my body writhed and convulsed under his fingers. I heard him bite off a curse which was followed shortly by the sounds of a bag opening and rummaging around inside it. I did my best to obey but my body seemed to have a mind of its own as it continued to convulse. _"You'll be all right but you _must_ continue to lay still! You've had quite the shock to your system and you need to rest or you'll not recover! Do you understand me?!" I_ tried to respond but found that my mouth refused to move; it was frozen in a terrible grimace that I couldn't budge, my teeth feeling like they were literally fused together._

_I could feel someone pushing down on my shoulders and I heard Dr. Benson yelling, "_Hold him down, you daft idiots, and be quick about it!"_ before four extra hands made their presence known to help hold down my bucking and convulsing body. _

"Be gentle with him, you ham-handed dolts! _How _many times do I have to tell you two that he_ isn't _a damned side of beef to be tossed about at will!" _Dr. Benson ordered and I could all but hear Kaine and Umbrae's teeth grinding together as they did as they were told. However, the muttering I could dimly hear as they grumbled under their breath didn't bode well for the good doctor if he continued his obstinate behavior. _

Please, Dr. Benson... _I could hear myself begging in my mind as my body rocked under the three men's grasp,_ don't... make them... angry... They'll... they'll... _kill_... you if you...do... You're..._ my._.. only hope... to... escape... this... _this_... **NIGHTMARE**!

_I felt the cool and wet cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide swipe over a small spot on the skin of my arm as the wet, acerbic smell assaulted my nostrils. It was quickly followed by the sharp sting of the hypodermic needle as it went through my arm, followed by the brief pressure as he pressed the top home and finally the blessed relief, once the needle had been removed from my arm, of the drug that Dr. Benson had injected me with as it flowed through my body. As the drug slowly started to make its way through my system, I could hear someone taking a deep breath and holding it although I wasn't sure exactly who it was; for all I knew it could have been Kaine, Umbrae or even the good doctor himself._

What's... happening... What... was... that...why...why...do I feel..._?  
_

_The rocking and convulsions continued for awhile longer but they weren't as violent as they had been previously before they gradually began to ease and, after a time, ceased all together. I fell, exhausted, back into the kneeling Dr. Benson's arms, sweat beads on my forehead slowly trickling down my face and soft moans rumbling from my throat as the drug began to take a noticeable effect a few minutes later. _

_I could feel his gnarled hand on the back of my head as he held me and, although my vision was blurry and I could barely make out his face, I could still dimly see Dr. Benson's kindly eyes looking concerned as he did a quick once-over, his skilled eyes looking over me. He seemed to be satisfied that I was out of any immediate danger since he nodded once and barked at Kaine and Umbrae to get some blankets that he had brought with him. With ill-concealed grace, which Dr. Benson cheerfully ignored, they did as they were told, grabbing the small pile that was sitting in the corner of the room and practically threw the blankets at Dr. Benson once they had gathered them up. _

_Without batting an eyelash, the good doctor told them to pick up the blankets and make up a bed for me to rest on while I healed, if they were at all capable of doing so without having to be told a second time. Umbrae nearly had a fit but Kaine managed to calm him down long enough for the two of them to do as Dr. Benson had requested, soft whispers flying fast and furiously between the two as they did so; their heads were pressed together so tightly it looked in the shadows as if it were one person and not two standing there._

_All the while, I couldn't stop the terrifying feeling that I had from getting much worse until I was starting to shiver with alarm, my eyes wide open and staring in the darkness. Dr. Benson noticed this at once and did his level best to try and soothe me but I couldn't shake the feeling of fear that was spreading through me. _

_The good doctor was in grave danger and I couldn't believe that he wasn't aware of it and, from the looks of things, it appeared that he didn't overly care; he was simply a physician looking out for his patient and, if it meant ruffling the feathers of my two tormentors, it didn't matter to him. What _was _of paramount importance to Dr. Benson was that his patient-in this case, me-was properly looked after and cared for and, if he needed to bark orders like a drill sergeant to two recalcitrant ne'er-do-wells before they did as they were told, then so be it._

_I admired his courage but, in the depths of my being, I knew that he was in grave danger and he seemed to be ignoring all my attempts to communicate this to him. I couldn't believe the bullheadedness of the man but, at the same time, I knew that it was, ultimately, a fruitless endeavor to try and persuade him to do otherwise at this point. He'd made his position undeniably clear and I doubted that anything could persuade him to change his mind. He would do as he saw fit and would do whatever he thought was right in my best interests since I knew that he did have these at heart. I could only conclude, in my semi-conscious state, that he was blatantly suicidal in his open challenge of both Kaine and Umbrae and I knew it wouldn't be long before some retribution would be exacted from him._

_I knew that I had to try to warn him and, with great effort, I managed to turn my head so that I was looking at his face, my vision swimming in and out of focus as I did so and I felt, rather than saw, him turn his head to look down at me. I tried to open my swollen lips and, after a few tries, I was at least able to croak something intelligible out, hoping beyond hope that Dr. Benson would understand what I was trying to say. One of his eyebrows rose, a frown appearing on his features as he leaned down closer to me so that my lips were nearly touching his ear. _

"Is there something you want to tell me, lad?"_ he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper as he cast a furtive glance at Kaine and Umbrae who were engaged in the task he'd assigned them and had their backs turned to us for the time being. _

_I nodded quickly, squeezing my eyes shut while I waited for the dizzy sensation to pass before I opened them again._

"Is it about those two?"

_I nodded again although a little less forcefully than before, my blurry eyes creasing in slight confusion as I struggled to make clear what I was trying to warn him about. My mouth opened and closed as I tried desperately to get the words I was trying to say out: _Be. Careful. They. Will. Kill. You. If. You. Push. Them. Any. Further. Please. Don't. You're. My. Only. Hope. To. Escape. From. This. Nightmare. Don't. Make. Them. Angry. Please! Help. Me! t_o no avail and I fell silent for a few moments before I took a deep breath and tried again, with the same result._

_Dr. Benson frowned, his eyes narrowing as he struggled to try and understand what I was trying to say but it was clear that he was having trouble catching the gist of it. I didn't help matters much, either, because I was feeling quite groggy and I couldn't make my mouth move so I could speak properly; the only sounds I could manage at this point were unintelligible moans, half-formed words and croaks. _

_I could have screamed in frustration and would have had I been able to; I was trying to warn him of the danger he was in and I found that I couldn't get my message across in order for him to understand. To my dismay, I also discovered that my hands had begiun to shake again and I couldn't help but wonder if I had crossed the point of no return as far as ever being physically whole again._

_Dr. Benson seemed to sense my frustration since he bent down lower and murmured, out of the hearing of Kaine and Umbrae, _"What is it you're trying to tell me?" _He looked kindly though pityingly at me out of the corner of his eye, his gaze flickering momentarily over to Kaine and Umbrae. _"I'm listening. What is it you're trying to tell me?"

_Encouraged by his kindly voice, I tried again to speak but all I got out were more unintelligible words mixed in with a cornucopia of squeaks and croaks. After a few minutes more of fruitless effort, I jerked my head over to the left, tears of rage and frustration welling up in my eyes as my shaky hands clenched into fists. _

_The words were on the tip of my tongue and I couldn't, for all of my trying, get them out or even communicate them in a proper manner without sounding like I'd just swallowed a tankful of helium. I was terribly afraid now for the old doctor's safety and I was trying to get this across to him in a way that he could understand._

_Before I had another chance to open my mouth, I could feel him hurriedly pressing his index finger against my lips, entreating me to be silent since-as I learned much later-both Kaine and Umbrae had stopped what they were doing and were looking curiously in our direction, their eyes narrowed menacingly._

"What are you two louts looking over here for?!"_ he demanded, the irritation he felt quite plain in his voice. _"Are you _done_ with that bed yet?!"

"Not yet," _I heard Kaine reply through what I assumed to be gritted teeth since it certainly sounded that way and yet another indication that Dr. Benson, at this point, still _didn't_ have the concrete idea that these two were not people to be messed with._

"Then what are you waiting for, lad? Christmas?! _Get_ with it and _get_ it done!"

_I could hear two very angry voices start to say something but they immediately snapped their mouths shut and turned to do as they had been ordered, an ominous silence filling my prison. I couldn't help but tremble as I felt the oppressive atmosphere, which had become much more pronounced than it had been before and even the doctor was quick to pick up on the change at once._

_I could dimly see his concerned face leaning close to mine but I could hear his voice plain enough and it seemed, belatedly, that the good doctor was beginning to get the idea, or so I surmised, that there _might _have been trouble brewing from the undercurrent of menace that permeated the area. From what I could see of his face, which I admit wasn't much, he looked uncertain and this troubled him a great deal... not to mention me._

_He seemed to come to a decision and leaned close to me once more, his mouth close to my ear._

"Quickly, lad, we don't have much time," _he whispered urgently, looking over to the backs of the two glowering men across the room, _"I'm beginning to have the feeling that there's something wrong." _He looked over at them again for a brief moment before returning his attention back to me._ "Is this what you've been trying to tell me?"

_I looked at him mutely, feeling very helpless and hopeless. I _still_ couldn't speak and I had the vague notion that he was beginning to understand that something was troubling me from the way I was carrying on._

"Right," _he said at last after a few moments of silence, _"here's what we'll do. I'll throw out various thoughts of what I think you're trying to tell me and you nod if I'm right. Ok?"

_I nodded._

"Good lad," _he said in response and I thought that I could detect a slight note of relief in his voice. That provided me with some amount of comfort since it seemed, at least to me, that he _now_ could sense the danger in the air. I only hoped that he would take the warning to heart and not antagonize either Kaine or Umbrae any further since, taken either together or alone, they were a lethal combination. _

_I knew only _too _well what kind of psychotic rage was smouldering inside the two men since I'd already had a taste of it and I didn't want the same fate to befall the good doctor; I feared that he wouldn't be as lucky since, not only had he openly disagreed with them he had also openly ridiculed and belittled them. I knew it wouldn't be long before they avenged the insult although, I hoped, that by not antagonizing either of them any further that this might stave off that inevitable moment of retribution. _

_Dr. Benson was only a tool to them-as I was in order to get even with the still mysterious and shadowy "Mr. Edgeworth"-and nothing more; once they were done with him or he outlived his usefulness, whichever came first, they would get rid of him and never think twice about it or even look back. I had the terrible feeling that they would kill him to ensure his silence and that feeling only grew worse as time went on._

_I licked my dry, cracked lips tentatively. I knew what I had to do and yet I was still mute; somehow, and I didn't know exactly how at this point, I had to get the message across to him that I was desperately trying to convey: the good doctor was in terrible danger... and I had to warn him before it was too late..._

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_Two days earlier..._

_October 19th_  
_5 P.M.  
Miles Edgeworth's Office_

I paced up and down the floor as I waited for Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe to arrive, feeling like a caged tiger. I was sure that I wore two grooves in the linoleum from my desk to the door with my endless pacing but it was the only one constructive way that I could think of to release the pent up emotions roiling within me, threatening to explode. I had to keep myself calm and my mind free of emotion for the time being since the discovery that I had just made was _too_ important to mess up and Phoenix's life depended on my handling it and handling it _well_.

_Where are they?_ I thought irritably, looking at my watch every few seconds as I continued my trek across the length and breadth of my office, stopping every now and then to look out of the window at the gathering darkness of the early October evening,_ they _should _have been here by now! Where the hell are they?!_

I remembered how startled Ms. Skye had been when she'd first answered her cell phone but that quickly changed as I hurriedly explained what I had discovered. After a few minutes of silence, she agreed rather uneasily that we all needed to talk about the newest facts I had discovered concerning Phoenix's kidnapping and the trial, and subsequent execution, of Kaine Mayhew's brother, Neill.

I'd been looking over the case in my spare time for the past week or so when I had a moment or two to myself-it helped me keep my mind focused on Phoenix's rescue and not the blinding panic I'd felt once that picture had been sent to me on my cell phone-and, to my surprise, quite a number of interesting things had come to light that _hadn't _in the original trial.

My eyes widened as I read, and re-read, the paper I held in my hand until I was certain that what I thought I _was _reading actually _was _what I was reading. I slowly placed it down on top of my desk, as if the paper were made of brittle glass and resumed pacing, my mind working furiously over the new trail of evidence that I'd just finished reading.

Somehow, and I didn't know if it was due to an oversight on someone's part or a deliberate attempt to railroad Neill Mayhew, this document had not been given to the defendant's attorney for use in his trial; if it had, things might have turned out _very_ differently for Neill Mayhew... and Phoenix, too.

The rattling of the doorknob brought me out of my reverie in an instant, startling me into full alert. I watched the door fly open and hit the opposite side of the wall as Ms. Fey, followed by Detective Gumshoe and Ms. Skye, came stumbling into the room. From the way they were all wheezing, clutching at their chests and bending over trying to catch their breath, I surmised that they had either run all the way here, part of the way here or all the way here and up to my office instead of taking the elevator to the 12th floor.

"Where have you been?!" I demanded, hurrying over to where the trio stood, still bent over and wheezing. "You should have been here a half-hour ago; what kept you?!"

What I _didn't_ say was that I was afraid that either one or all three had been snatched by Kaine Mayhew or Umbrae (I only knew his lover's nickname but not his real name or anything else about him save that he was just as crazy, if not crazier, than Kaine was)_. That _was what really fueled the fire of my diatribe: worry that they may have come to grief or snatched by either one or by both of those madmen. I'd already had my lover snatched and I really didn't need any of my friends to go mysteriously missing next.

"S-sorry, M-M-Mr. E-Edge-w-wor-th," Detective Gumshoe panted, lifting his hand in the air and looking slowly up at me as he did so, "w-we g-got st-st-st-tuck in tr-tr-tra-traff a-and we.. we c-c-c-c-could-n-n-'t-"

I cut him off with a wave of my hand, sighing inwardly, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "Never mind, Detective. Just tell me once you can breathe again."

Gumshoe nodded gratefully and I waited, rather impatiently, in silence for the three to get their collective breath back. My arms were crossed over my chest while my index finger was tapping an impatient rhythm of its own on the inside of my left arm as I waited, teeth gritted, for what seemed like an eternity until, finally, they all stood up, one after the other. They all took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before squaring their shoulders and turning, as one, to look at me.

The three reminded me of soldiers on parade, each movement carefully choreographed to move in perfect unison and it would have been amusing-trying to imagine _these_ three in any kind of military service at all was enough to provoke me to laughter-_if _the situation hadn't have been so serious that levity neither warranted nor appreciated, even if accidentally as it was in this case.

"Feel better now?" I asked, a tinge of biting sarcasm plainly evident in my tone. The three nodded rather shamefacedly, shuffling from one foot to the other, again in unison which, for some inexplicable reason, really bothered me.

"Stop that!" I barked, my mouth twisted into a feral snarl, my grey eyes flashing dangerously. The three jumped, startled, their eyes fixing on my face as they did so, Ms. Fey and Ms. Skye's cheeks turning scarlet with embarrassment and Detective Gumshoe's eyes opening wide.

_Get a grip, Miles_, I thought, struggling to tamp down my impatience and the almost overwhelming urge to berate them for being late and being so nonchalant about their safety, _they aren't doing it to annoy you; they're also dancing on a hairsbreadth of nerves, just like you are so cut them a little slack._

I stood in silence for a few minutes and then, clearing my throat, I finally began to speak.

"We have, " I began, walking slowly over to my desk and picking up the document that I had been previously reading, my lips compressed in a thin, tight line, "some evidence which has come to light about a case I prosecuted many years ago... when I first began my prosecuting career, to be exact." I turned to face them, my eyes troubled while the trio stared uncertainly back at me, fidgeting and shuffling their feet. "And I now know _why _Kaine kidnapped Phoenix... and_ how_ the two are connected..."

I took a deep breath, meeting their eyes squarely. "The connection is through _me._"


	9. Explanations & Expiation

_A/N: I do not own Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey, Larry Butz, Manfred von Karma or Ema Skye; CAPCOM does. However, Kaine, Umbrae, Dr. Benson and the plot are my own creations. :^)  
**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_Dr. Benson has taken his life in his hands, both in treating and defending Phoenix and standing up to his captors when he feels its necessary, angering both Kaine and Umbrae but who, for some mysterious reason, are keeping their rage in check. It doesn't bode well for the good Doctor_...  
_Miles discovers a piece of evidence in the long ago trial of Neill Mayhew that_ wasn't _introduced_ _into evidence at the time. Its significance will be revealed later on_...  
**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

At last! *whew!!!* I think I've got the problems I was having with this ironed out-for the most part; there may be some I might have missed in this unbetaed version but will be fixed later on! :^) -and I do hope that you enjoy this _long _overdue chapter! :^) *Added a bit explaining how Miles is connected with the Neill Mayhew case.*

"Hamhanded lackwits" is close to a descriptive that Attalander used in one of her fics so I'm crediting her for the phrase. :^)

Poor Phoenix... and poor Dr. Benson. *In portraying Phoenix as sick as he is, this is how _I _see it and probably _doesn't_ realistically reflect medical reality. I'm_ not_ an M.D. and have taken some license in how Phoenix reacts to the sedative that Dr. Benson injected into him. That being said, I _did_ do a bit of research into the symptoms of a concussion so that part is medically accurate.*

Hope you all enjoy the chapter! :) As always, comments and suggestions are definitely and gratefully welcomed! :^)

_Thank you, as always, to my readers who frequently read-and even re-read-my stories and those who have commented, _ read, reviewed, favourited/story alerted my stories and thanks also to those who have author alerted/favourite authored, as well! I appreciate it very much! I am glad that you are enjoying my stories and I hope that you will continue to enjoy them in the future! :)

**Thank you **to my beta, Midnight-hunter! Hope all is well with you and I await your critique! :^)

**Extra Special thanks **to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his encouragement, love, concern, support, nagging [when necessary], for reigniting the fire within me to write and your advice in our discussion! Love you, honey, and **TONS OF THANKS!!!!** :^)

Teen, male/male relationships, Suspense/Romance, Phoenix & Edgeworth  
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_October 25th  
Location unknown  
Time unknown_

_I could dimly hear sounds of movement going on in the background, the soft crunch of gravel underneath footwear, the sliding noise of something soft being dragged across the rough, uneven ground. I opened my eyes once again to see Dr. Benson looking silently down at me, his eyes troubled. I must have been unconscious for some time since he looked genuinely relieved to see me awake. It made me wonder just _what _had happened while I was out. Something had, that much was obvious.  
_

"Thank God you're all right, lad,"_ he said with relief, casting another quick glance in the direction of Kaine and Umbrae who had their backs to us. _"I was afraid that you were down and out for the count permanently when you dropped off like that."

I must have passed out again... _I swallowed hard, recoiling at the sour taste that rushed into my mouth and I resisted the urge to vomit._ God, I feel... _sick_.

_After my stomach had settled down a few minutes later, I blinked a couple of times, trying to clear my as of yet still fuzzy eyes so that I could see but it was no use as I _still _couldn't see very well. Images and faces faded in and out of my line of vision and I wondered what could be the cause of it and who the faces were, as I didn't recognize some of them. _

_I wracked my still murky memory to come up with an explanation, settling on a concussion or maybe something similar. It did make _some_ sense, after all: the dizziness; loss of memory, although that, thankfully, was slowly returning in starts and fits; fuzzy vision... it all tied together in a nice, neat bow. Had I taken the time to analyze it or could have at this stage, I would have recognized that life doesn't work that way and rarely is anything ever tied up _so_ neatly. If it is, then there is a strong reason to suspect that there's _something_ awry somewhere. If I had thought about it, I would also have noticed that the amnesia was slowly working itself out as well but this fact did not make itself known to me at the time_ _and I was left to puzzle out the unfathomable on my own for awhile longer__.  
_

"Lad?"_ Dr. Benson's voice brought me back to reality. I snapped my head over to where the sound of his voice was coming from and was promptly rewarded with a wave of dizziness and nausea, making me feel desperately sick. I could feel bile rising in my throat and I fought it back; it wouldn't do to throw up on Dr. Benson after all he'd done for me and had, quite literally, saved my life._

_Seeing me in distress, Dr. Benson shifted his arms and gently lifted me into a sitting position until I was half-sitting and half-lying on his lap, my arms dangling uselessly at my side. We both waited tensely for the nausea and dizziness to pass and, a few minutes later, once my head had stopped spinning and my stomach had settled down, I took deep breaths, trying to clear my head and squeezing my eyes tightly shut before opening them again. It did work, to a degree, to clear my vision but only slightly as the things I could really see were blurry, darkened shadows._

"Quickly!"_ he hissed impatiently, biting on his lower lip, turning his head to look over at Kaine and Umbrae. I knew he had turned his head because I felt the upper half of his body twist around. _"There's _no _time to lose!"

_I definitely agreed with him and I nodded weakly to show that I could hear him and understood what he was saying, slumping against him so that my ear was near his mouth. Therefore, he could whisper his questions and Kaine or Umbrae wouldn't be able to hear him. At least that was the theory.  
_

"All right, let's make this quick. I know that you're trying to tell me something so I'll just say what comes to mind. You let me know if I'm on the right track by nodding if I'm right, shaking your head if I'm not. Will that be all right and not too taxing for you?"

_I nodded slowly and Dr. Benson smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching with what appeared to be uneasiness although that could have just been a trick of my fuzzy vision.  
_

"Good lad. Right, let's begin..."

_I could see his eyes flicker over to the twin shadows across the room and I wondered what he was thinking. Was the flash of fear that I had, or thought I had, seen in his eyes only in my imagination or was he was slowly beginning to understand the kind of danger he was in? I hoped that it was the latter rather than the former.  
_

_I could feel the good doctor's head leaning down over mine once more until his lips were close to my ear, his breath tickling as it drifted past. He seemed subdued for some reason, and I was hard-pressed to come up with an explanation as to why. I still hurt everywhere although the pain in my head wasn't as bad as it had been previously but I wasn't out of the woods just yet. I was still sick and my head spun when I moved it too fast, bringing a foul tasting bile into my mouth and my stomach churning._

"Take it easy there, lad," _I heard Dr. Benson's quiet voice murmur somewhere above my head and I closed my eyes and waited for the spell to pass before opening them again, _"take it easy. You're _still _in the process of healing and you need to take things slowy... for both of our sakes."

_Was it my imagination or did Dr. Benson's voice have a subtle note of tension lurking just beneath the surface? Something had _definitely _changed in the short time I'd been unaware of the world and I wondered what it could have been._

_Pain sliced through my head at that moment and I bit back a thin scream, shivering uncontrollably as a new wave of convulsions raced through my arching body. I rode out the storm, Dr. Benson holding me and, once my body had stopped rocking, he quickly injected a sedative into me and I lay back, exhausted, sweat beads rolling down my forehead and dripping onto my face._

"Easy, easy,"_ Dr. Benson soothed, taking his handkerchief out of his pocket and gently wiping the sweat from my face, _"that's it, boy... just take it easy. Everything will be all right in a few moments, I promise. Just take a few deep breaths and relax as much as you can."

_I took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly; when I didn't feel sick or dizzy, I took another deep breath, held it for a few seconds and then let it slowly out. Dr. Benson's voice echoed his approval and, for some reason, he felt just like my father which put me at ease at once. I couldn't forget that he was risking his life to make sure I was treated well after my beating at the hands of my captors, braving the seething twin wrath of Kaine and Umbrae and I was determined, with all the strength I could muster at this point, to save his life in turn. _

It's the _least _I can do for him...

_I caught a glimpse of him out of my peripheral vision and turned my wandering attention back to what he was saying, cursing myself silently for my inattention. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice and I slowly leaned in a bit closer until his mouth was nearly touching my ear in order to hear what he was saying._

"That's it; just keep taking deep breaths slowly and try to relax." _He patted my back affectionately, rubbing the small of it with the tips of his fingertips in a gentle, circular motion. It startled me momentarily and I jerked back a bit from him, my foggy eyes moving back and forth in panic. He hastened to reassure me. _"I'm sorry I startled you, lad," _he said apologetically,_ "I often do this for my grandchildren when they're upset and it always calms them. I do apologize for taking such a liberty and, I assure you, I will not do so again without your permission."

_I felt rather badly since he sounded so contrite and, by nodding and half-garbled sentences and bits of words, I hoped to make him understand that I_ wasn't _offended, merely startled. I did manage to get my message across and dimly saw the faint flicker of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and I felt better now that he knew that I didn't take it personally._

_I could feel him looking around the room briefly before he lowered his head. "_All right; the coast is clear. Now lad, we don't have much time so I'll make this as quick as I can." I felt him looking up for a moment and then bent back down. "I know you're trying to tell me something and I think I have at least some idea of what it is you're trying to tell me but I'm not _quite _clear on the details."

_He was suddenly quiet again before looking up and then back down again and I wondered why he kept doing that; ostensibly, I thought it might be that he kept checking to see if my two captors were anywhere within listening distance but now I wasn't quite sure if that _was_ the reason. _

Maybe this place is starting to get to him, too. Its a wonder that I haven't gone mad yet...

_Before I had a chance to wonder about anything else, I realized that he was murmuring words in my ear and I jerked myself back to the present._

"Is it about those two?"

_I nodded._

"Are they up to something dodgy?"

_I nodded._

"Are you here against your will? Did they kidnap you for some reason?"

_I nodded._

_Dr. Benson nodded primly. _"I thought as much. I _knew _that there was something wrong with the excuse they used to get me to come down here to treat you after they finished beating the tar out of you but I'm _not _sorry that I came. I'm glad that you're recovering."

_My mouth worked to form words and he bent down to listen to what I was saying._ "I... You... need to be... be...care-careful... Dr. ... Dr. Benson..."

_I could feel an eyebrow lift. _"Careful?" _he repeated, his voice sounding puzzled._ "What do I need to be careful about, lad?"

_I was about to open my mouth to reply when I heard a mocking voice ask_, "Indeed, Mr. Wright? Whatever _does_ the good doctor need to be careful for?"

_Both Dr. Benson and I stiffened... and I felt a chill run down my back.  
_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_October 23rd  
5:02 P.M  
Miles Edgeworth's Office_

Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe stared at me, disbelief etched on each of their faces as I told them, "The connection... is through _me_." Their mouths worked but no sound emerged and they stood there mutely, stunned into speechlessness by what I could well imagine to be the surprise of their lives, not to mention it was one of my own, as well.

_I _knew_ that there was a connection there somewhere... I just never dreamed that it would be through_ me!

I stood in silence, waiting for the commotion to die down before I spoke. I understood and appreciated their disbelief since I found it hard to comprehend myself but it was there, all the evidence I needed to make the connection.

Detective Gumshoe recovered his composure first.

"How... how can this be, Mr. Edgeworth?" he demanded, his hand clenching into a fist. "_How_ is that twisted psycho connected to... _you_?!" Ms. Fey and Ms. Skye nodded, definitively in clear agreement with the good detective.

I smiled faintly. _I can always count on Detective Gumshoe's loyalty_, I thought with emotion, feeling my eyes misting and I quickly wiped the welling tears away with an impatient swipe, hoping that none of the three had seen it, _and Ms. Fey's and Ms. Skye's._ _I never thought about it before, really. These three are, for better or worse, my _friends; _while their friendship may have been formed in adversity, the fact remains that they trust me, they like me and they're always standing by me, no matter _what _happens. _My nose twitched slightly. _I never really knew what it was like to have a friend until Phoenix came back into my life. Something else I am grateful to him for._

I could feel my lip start to tremble so I hurriedly cleared my throat a few times in order to cover it although, to judge by the smirks on all three of their countenances, I wondered if I'd been successful in my attempt.

My lips curved into a secret smile as I chuckled and squared my shoulders._ No matter. They're behind me and that's what is truly important. _I took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, mentally preparing myself for what was to come._ Now comes the hard part: trying to explain everything I've discovered when I'm still not quite certain of some parts of it, myself... How could Kaine have missed this all those years ago?_

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Ms. Skye said quietly, coughing politely bringing me firmly back to reality with a jolt. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but you were about to tell us something, were you not?" Her cheeks turned pink as she looked at the floor. "On the phone, you sounded _very _excited and animated so we were wondering what it was you found." I noticed that she _didn't _mention the fact that "we were practically dragged from our late lunch hour!"

_As good an opening as any..._

I inclined my head to Ms. Skye slightly, nodding in agreement.

"Thank you, Ms. Skye," I replied, a wide smile breaking out over my face while she grinned back at me, "for bringing me back to the point of this discussion. I do appreciate it."

She blushed but I could see she was pleased with the compliment. I couldn't help but think back to my early years under von Karma's tutelage and how different I was now, both as a prosecutor _and _as a man.

Back then, _all_ I cared about was perfection. I never once considered the effect that _my_ decisions might have had on the individual person as a whole; I did my job and that was that as far as I was concerned. I never thought much more about it after the job was complete.

Now, I was much _more_ careful to take into consideration the person's feelings, _especially_ if that person happened to be a client or someone who's behalf I was acting in. For this, I could only be grateful that von Karma's attempt to mould me into a man in his own twisted likeness was unsuccessful and that Phoenix, my friend, my courtroom rival and my beloved, had succeeded in saving me from myself.

"I was the prosecuting attorney on the Neill Mayhew case," I said softly which was immediately followed with gasps of surprise from the good detective, Ms. Fey and Ms. Skye. "It was the third case I'd prosecuted in the early years of my career."

I waited for some time in silence as the three struggled to wrap their minds around that bit of information; they were having a hard time reconciling that fact to the present situation, if the looks on their faces were any indication. I wasn't surprised that they were having trouble with the concept; I never talked about my early life all that much so I would have expected that this knowledge would have been a bit difficult to accept.

While the trio wrestled with their individual questions, my mind was traveling back over the years, long past the Neill Mayhew case, past my early life in Germany, even further back than my mentoring by Manfred von Karma. It went back to my school days with Phoenix in that year before my entire life fell apart with the murder of my father.

I smiled softly as I recalled those long ago school days: the times Phoenix and I spent together; the various kinds of mischief that Larry got both Phoenix and myself into; summers at the beach with Phoenix and his family; ice cream cones every Friday after school... Memory after memory flooded into my mind and I found myself marveling anew at just how much Phoenix was a part of my life, even in the fifteen years we'd spent apart. I'd never forgotten what he'd done for me and the debt I owed him was enormous, one in which I resolved to try and repay for all of his kindnesses to me by finding him and saving his life;_ nothing_ was more important to me now than that.

_I'll save you, Phoenix... I promise! After that, we'll pick up the pieces and start over again. _Nothing _else matters to me except you..._

"There is a document-" I held up the thin, cream-colored piece of paper in my hand- "that just came to my attention a few days ago and, from this, I was able to make the connection of these seemingly unrelated events and how they are tied to this case."

It was the result of a D.N.A. test. The trio's eyes widened as they took it in.

"_Why_ it wasn't introduced at Neill Mayhew's trial is a mystery to me," I went on, "but my suspicion is that Kaine didn't introduce it into evidence because he either didn't know it existed or simply forgot about it." I shook my head. "Any way you look at it, he really messed up." I put the document softly down on the top of my desk; it was just an unassuming piece of parchment paper to some but, to me, it was more like a guillotine, the instrument that had sent an innocent man to his death.

"Yes," I repeated softly, my eyes flickering over the three faces that looked back at me, "this would have made _all _the difference..."

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Both Dr. Benson and I looked up at that moment to look into the mocking face of Umbrae as he stood above us, his emerald-green eyes glittering with mad glee. At that moment, I felt fear flood over me like a tidal wave as I looked fearfully up at him; we'd been caught, despite Dr. Benson's every effort to make sure they wouldn't hear us and now we were both going to pay for our obstinance. _

_I could feel fear emanating from Dr. Benson but, to his credit, he screwed up his courage to face the beast square on, looking at Umbrae from a contemptuous face._

"Is there a reason _why_ you're standing there like a dolt?" _Dr. Benson grated through clenched teeth, looking Umbrae straight in the face as he did so. _

Please... don't..._  
_

"What were you two talking about?" _Umbrae asked, the rage he was feeling barely concealed under the surface amiability._

_Dr. Benson waved a gnarled hand lazily. _"That's none of your concern," _he replied stiffly, his hazel eyes glittering as he met Umbrae's gaze squarely and, abruptly changing the subject asked, _"Are you two done making up that bed for him yet?"

_Umbrae sniffed_. "Of course. _That's_ what I came over here to tell you." _Despite his relatively mild tone, I could hear the note of menace underneath and, I'm sure, so did Dr. Benson who did his level best to hide it. I could feel Umbrae glowering but he remained silent._

_Dr. Benson gave him a look_. "Its about time you hamhanded lackwits got it done! Help me to lift him, _if _you would be so kind."

"Of course, Dr. Benson," _Umbrae remarked sagely,_ "I would be happy to."

_I could barely see Dr. Benson giving him an odd look as he gently handed me to Umbrae and then scrambled to his feet, dusting his trousers off with an impatient gesture. Umbrae was surprisingly gentle as he held me and even more so when he wrapped his arms around my torso from behind. I could feel his breath softly tickling the back of my neck as he held me upright, my head spinning as I slumped forward, my hands swaying helplessly in the air._

_I could also hear soft giggles emanating from behind me and I knew, without a doubt, that they were planning some mischief or other. I shivered as I was held by that madman and I couldn't wait for him to put me down, feeling like a mouse in the paws of a cat that was happy, at the present, to be merely playing with his prey and not too interested in devouring him... at least for now._

_Dr. Benson grabbed my feet and lifted me into a prone position which was just as well since I felt like I was ready to throw up; thankfully, they waited until the room stopped spinning before they carried me over to where the bed lay, Kaine standing at the head of it, his face an unreadable, blurry mask as he watched Dr. Benson and Umbrae lay me down on top of it, drawing the blanket up to my chin as the doctor tucked me in._

_I could dimly see two shadows nodding toward each other before they looked back at the doctor and I could make out, barely, twin savage smiles as they looked at him. I now knew that Dr. Benson was in serious danger and I tried again to warn him, my shaky hand grasping onto his sleeve and trying to talk but all that came out were half-strangled croaks; whatever sedative the doctor had injected me with was now taking effect and I cursed inwardly at the stroke of bad luck._

_The last image I have of him before the darkness claimed me once again soon after was his kind face looking down at me as he murmured, _"Don't worry, lad. We'll talk again and then you can tell me whatever it was that you were trying to say. For now, you need to rest. I'll be back in to check on you in a few days."

_I tried again to open my mouth to say something but my head felt like it was full of cotton, my eyelids fluttering madly as I fought with all my strength to stave off the sleepiness I could feel slowly covering me like a shroud. I had to warn him, I had to before it was too late but Dr. Benson laid a gentle, gnarled hand on my shoulder and shook his head._

"Rest, lad. You can tell me later, don't worry." _He gave me a quick grin and a wink, the two men, still as statues, standing silently on either side of him._ "I'll be back in a few days but, for now, you need to rest."

_My mouth worked but no sound emerged as Dr. Benson turned and began to walk away from me, Kaine and Umbrae following slightly behind him.__ I watched Dr. Benson's blurry, shadowy form moving slowly away, closely followed by two other shadows, the three blending together as they walked down the corridor before they were lost in the dark._

_I slowly fell into an uneasy slumber, my eyelids fluttering shut as sleep reached up from the abyss and dragged me down with it. They flew open again as the thought was that the first chance I had I would warn Dr. Benson of the danger that was dogging him and then nothing as I slowly but steadily slipped into unconsciousness. _

_I would never get the opportunity to tell Dr. Benson what I wanted to and it was only after my rescue that I would find out why. For now, my one hope for rescue was lost in the dark and I was again alone, fighting to stay conscious but slipping away shortly afterward into oblivion, those beautiful grey eyes following me into the dark abyss..._


	10. Little Boys Blue

_A/N: Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey and Ema Skye do not belong to me; they belong to CAPCOM. Kaine, Umbrae, Dr. Benson and the plot are my own creations. :^)_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Now that the connection-and the reason why Kaine Mayhew kidnapped Phoenix-between Miles Edgeworth's past and the present is known, Miles receives a phone call on his cell phone that fills him with dread. Should he go to where the caller indicates or would he, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey and Ema Skye be walking into a trap set by Kaine and Umbrae. What will they find there?_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Whew! Sorry it's taken me so long-it has been awhile-but here, at last, is chapter 10! :^)

As if things couldn't get any worse for poor Phoenix now! Still in the dark with the monsters and Dr. Benson _nowhere_ in sight. It _doesn't_ bode well for the good doctor, does it? Hopefully, all will be well with him... Hopefully.  
Nursery rhymes sure can be creepy, can't they?  
It seems like Kaine and Umbrae are really enjoying tormenting poor Phoenix and what better way to do so than to give touches and caresses that are neither _wanted_ nor _appreciated_. Phoenix is scared stiff of these two... as he should be. They are very dangerous men and are not to be trifled with or taken lightly.

There _is_ such a place as Mount Carmel cemetery-a Catholic one in Hillside, Illinois and others in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Michigan, to name a few-but I'm using it fictitiously and bears no resemblance to the real one.

Hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

Thanks to my readers! I appreciate your comments, faves, story and author alerts and suggestions and I hope that you will keep them coming! :^)

Extra special thanks to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, who's unfailing love, support, advice, nagging [when necessary], tender loving care helps to keep me grounded when I feel like tearing my hair out during the writing process and thank you very much for the title suggestion for the chapter! Love you, Hon, and many thanks!

Comments and suggestions are very welcome and encouraged!

Rated T, Suspense/Romance, male/male relationships, Phoenix x Edgeworth

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

My office was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop after I'd dropped that tidbit of information. As it was, I could hear the amazed, muffled exclamations of Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe as I made, unmistakably and irrevocably, clear the connection between Kaine Mayhew and myself.

I also knew that they were having a hard time reconciling the unsettling disclosure that, not _only_ did I _know_ Kaine on a personal level, but that I had _also _presided as Prosecutor in the trial of Neill Mayhew, Kaine's brother. The menagerie of warring emotions that crossed each one of their faces was a very interesting study, indeed. I could all but see their mixed emotions: surprise, unease and back to surprise before understanding slowly took hold and swiftly changed into worried frowns.

Not that I could really blame them. It _was_ a part of my past that I would have much rather have forgotten but, now that it had come back like a haunting spirit to wreak havoc in my life in the present, I'd had to face up to it, regardless of how much I _didn't _want to revisit those memories.

Which I really _didn't_. I would have preferred to have left the bitter taste in my mouth that Kaine Mayhew gave me in the long dead buried past... but he'd resurfaced, determined to make me pay for what, ultimately, turned out to be _his_ mistake, not _mine_.

_I wonder_ what _drove him all these years and_ why _he decided that I was the one who caused his brother's death? Who put that idea into his head?_ My arms lay still at my sides but my mind was working furiously, trying to explain what, to me, was inexplicable. _Someone would have had to or, on the other hand, is it simply he can't admit the mistake he made because of some kind of overpowering compulsion?_ My mouth twisted into a sour grimace. _It certainly_ isn't _guilt that's driving him since I honestly_ don't _think he's even capable of feeling _that_ particular emotion._

I worried my bottom lip for a few moments, thinking hard and completely oblivious to the commotion that the three were making around me. _I can't imagine_ what _is behind his kidnapping of Phoenix... or even_ why _he wants to get back at me for a perceived wrong. What_ is _his motivation and why did he wait all this time before he made his move? Why now and not earlier? It doesn't make any sense...  
_

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard a soft voice ask and I jumped, a startled exclamation emerging from my lips in tandem with a startled exclamation from the person who had addressed me. I willed my racing heart to slow down, taking deep breaths, closing my eyes; I waited a few minutes before I opened my eyes to see the worried face of Ms. Fey looking at me, biting her lower lip.

I felt an ache and pinched the sides of the top of my nose, closing my eyes once again until the feeling passed.

"Yes, Ms. Fey?" I couldn't keep the weariness out of my voice and I didn't even bother trying. She seemed non-plussed, however, her eyes reflecting concern and compassion back at me in spite of my rather curt retort.

_She's tough, I'll give her that!_

"Are you all right?" she asked, lying her hand gently on the inside of my arm, her fingers curling slightly. "Have you been resting?"

I shook my head, my mouth twisting bitterly.

"I haven't had the time, or the inclination, to do so, Ms. Fey!" I snapped, my ragged temper fraying, at last, at the seams, my dark grey eyes smoldering with repressed emotion that I could no longer hide or try to hide from anyone else. "I have more important things to do, and much more important worries on my mind, than whether or not I've been getting enough sleep!"

I didn't want to admit the truth to her or anyone else. I'd been having trouble sleeping ever since Phoenix had been kidnapped by Kaine and Umbrae; the longer that time went on, the worse it got. I'd been lucky to have snatched the two and a half hours I'd had the night before.

I'd hoped-a small perverse part of me did, at least-that my rudeness would have been a sufficient deterrent to her infernal and constant interference but, if anything, it only served to stoke her determination to put her nose in where it didn't belong. She squared her shoulders, set her mouth in a grim line and gave me a look that brooked _no_ argument; she would not be denied and would have her satisfaction whether I liked it or not.

_Sometimes,_ I thought with a weary sigh, _I wish that Ms. Fey wasn't so stubborn and set in her ways._ I chuckled, the corners of my mouth twitching in wry amusement, Ms. Fey tilting her head slightly to the right in inquiry. _She's just like Phoenix although I guess I shouldn't really be surprised; the two of them are such close friends that they could easily be mistaken for a brother and sister._

I could see her still looking at me out of the corner of my eye and I had to give the girl credit for perseverance even though she was, in parlance, becoming an annoying pain in the royal rear.

After a few moments more of silence, Ms. Fey lifted her eyebrow and there was _no_ mistaking _that_ look she gave me. I had dim memories of my own mother giving me the same look when I had gotten out of line. It was interesting and rather eerie at the same time; even though she was being an annoying pain in the tail, I _knew_ that she was worried and doing it out of care and concern for my well-being although that deeply perceptive, maternal expression that crossed her face made her look _much_ older than she was. _That_ was startling and I couldn't help feeling a chill running down my spine as she stood there, looking at me from out of _too_ old and _too_ wise eyes...

"I told you, Mr. Edgeworth," she said patiently, in a tone so gentle it was hard to think of it as being anything more than a loving mother correcting her beloved, though wayward, child, "you _need_ to rest. You're _no _good to us the way you are and, if you continue to push yourself this hard, you're going to run yourself right into the ground." She raised an eyebrow. "Where will that leave us, and you, then?"

I shook my head stubbornly.

"We've covered this topic before, Ms. Fey, and with Ms. Skye as well if you'll recall." I squared my shoulders, stood up to my full height of five foot ten and looked her directly in the face, my expression hardening. I hoped that this would be the last time I would have to repeat myself on this particular subject. "I _can't_ rest, _not_ when Phoenix is out there somewhere in the hands of Kaine and Umbrae!"

I had to stop for a moment since I could feel my gorge rising as the memory of the picture on my cell phone once more pushed itself to the forefront of my mind. I could see Ms. Fey's stern countenance softening at once as she saw my distressed and pained expression, my very real anxiety and fear showing plainly on my face. I could feel her hand tightening on my arm as she sought to comfort me and I gratefully took what comfort she gave.

"I have to keep moving, Ms. Fey; no matter what happens to _me_. If I _don't_-" my voice caught in my throat and I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat so large that it threatened to choke me.-"If I _don't_, that gives them another chance to get at him and..." I paused a moment. "I'd rather not give them that chance so, no matter what it may cost me, I can't afford _not_ to be vigilant." I looked down at her once again, my face twisted into an agonizing mask of worry, pain and anxiety. "That's why I keep going because, if I _don't_, no one else _can_. Or _will_." I looked away. "I'm the lone guardian at the gate and I can't afford to leave my post because... because... he... will suffer dearly for it if I do." I paused a moment to reign in my emotions before I went on. "I _can't_ take chances with his life anymore knowing what these two are capable of. If it were to happen again, I-"

I found that I was too choked to continue speaking but I was sure that Ms. Fey understood as she stood quietly there beside me, providing whatever comfort she could. It did help to take the edge off of my grief a little so I was grateful for her calm and soothing presence, providing the support I so desperately needed.

I knew in my heart that she was right-I _did _need sleep and I needed it desperately-but I couldn't relax while Phoenix was out there somewhere and in danger from the psychotic twosome who'd taken him in order to get back at me for a mistake that Kaine himself, and not me, was responsible for...a mistake which had ended with his brother, Neill, being found guilty, sentenced and subsequently executed.

I'd wondered, every now and again for the first three years after Neill Mayhew's death, what Neill had thought of it all since he'd gone to his death silent and tight-lipped but defiant; I could see it in his slate hard agate eyes in my memories of that day and in my nightmares at night for years following. I could remember well the day he was executed though, in light of recent events, I wished fervently that I couldn't.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_October 28th  
Time: Unknown  
Place: Unknown_

_My heart hammered fearfully in my chest as I heard the chilling sound of feet scraping along the dirt floor, knowing that it bode ill for me. I whimpered softly in the darkness as I heard them coming closer, dreading the appearance of my captors._

_It had been some time since I'd last seen Dr. Benson and I was worried about him and his safety; he'd gotten on the wrong side of Kaine and Umbrae by being so blunt and direct and I knew that it wouldn't be too long when both would exact full payment for that humiliation or anything else they chose to take as a slap against them and their pride._

_I couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened but I tried not to let those dark thoughts or the steadily rising fear I felt within consume me; he was my only hope out of this black hell and I was determined to hold on, if only for_ his _sake. He'd brought me back from the edge of death and I owed that courageous, wonderful man my life and it was at this point that I resolved to try and repay him for all that he had done for me, hoping against all hope that he was all right and that I would see him again soon._

_Still, I couldn't still that nagging voice in the back of my head that was shrilly warning me of danger, __that something was wrong, that Dr. Benson had been..._

_No! I couldn't think like that! Dr. Benson was all right; he was just busy, that's all which is why he hadn't come down to see me for awhile. I had no idea of exactly how much time had passed-I used to calculate time by Dr. Benson's visits which had come and gone like clockwork over the past few days-but I knew it had been awhile although, in the darkness, it was tough to tell._

Still... I wonder what's keeping him? _I worried my upper lip with my teeth, my mind whirling with sinister possibilities._Is he all right or... ?

_I gave my head a shake, moaning a little as a sharp pain raced through my head, trying not to worry so much over an, as of yet, unknown. I had to be careful since I wasn't fully healed as of yet from the beating that my captors had given me what seemed a lifetime ago now although I was slowly mending._ I _can't_ think like that; it isn't going to help anyone, especially me! He'll be all right, I _know_ he will...! I just have to think positive... and keep hoping. He's the best chance I have of living through this and my best avenue of escape...

_A sharp, piercing beam of light suddenly cut across my face and I yelped in pain as I saw black spots dancing before my eyes, lifting my arm to shield my face, the chains rattling ominously as I did so; it was almost as if they were mocking me, reminding me that I was their prisoner and that my captors held the upper hand. I trembled as I heard two low, menacing chuckles filling the air that seemed to grow in volume until the resulting cacophony sounded as if I were surrounded by a band of robbers._

"Well, good evening, Mr. Wright," _Kaine said mockingly as he walked over to where I was lying on the ground, getting down on one knee to look down on me,_ "and how are you this fine, fine evening?" _Without waiting for a response, he continued, his voice punctuated by a fit of the giggles that chilled me to my very bones._ "Oh, but how rude of me, Mr. Wright. You're in the dark and wouldn't know that it is evening now, would you? Of course you wouldn't..." _I could hear him turn as he faced someone off to the left of me, his sneering voice drifting out of the darkness._ "Did you hear that, Umbrae? He _can't _tell that it's evening!"

_I gritted my teeth at the insult but kept my peace as I heard Umbrae's smothered chuckles echoing throughout the room; talking back or firing back with a few choice epithets of my own would only enrage him and he might not be so careful to make sure he didn't beat me_ too _much. This time._

_As I stared up mutely at him, I couldn't help but feel like a bird of prey was hovering over me, just waiting for its chance to kill and devour me like the helpless mouse I was. As much as I hated admitting that to anyone, let alone myself, I knew it was the truth: I_ was _helpless and at the mercy of two psychotic killers._

"But we _haven't_ come here this evening to torture you further, Mr. Wright," _Kaine went on, his voice lowering to a seductive hiss and I could hear Umbrae giggling somewhere behind him though he kept to the shadows,_ "as much as we would both be delighted to." _He sighed with what sounded like reluctance and I couldn't help but shudder when I heard it._ "We have given our word to the good doctor, after all, not to harm you or let harm come to you, after all, and, whatever else we may be, we _are _people of our word."

Could have fooled me.

_A few good retorts to that statement bubbled just below the surface but I bit my tongue hard in order __for them not to escape from my mouth; to do so would be suicide since, as I well knew, both Kaine and Umbrae wouldn't hesitate to react and I might not be so lucky to make it out alive_ this _time._

"Indeed," _Umbrae said from the darkness, giggling softly as I heard him slowly approaching,_ "and, since we have given our word, we _will_ abide by it..." _He paused a moment, his voice dropping an octave to a sinister snarl before he continued._ "...provided that _you_, Mr. Wright, keep _your _end of the bargain..."

My... _what?_

_His voice trailed off warningly and I swallowed hard as I heard him coming closer until his feet were standing beside my head. The threat was undeniably clear and I knew that I would have to be very careful from now on not to offend these two though God knew that was proving to be a difficult task all on its own. I never knew exactly_ what _would set them off at any given time._ "And _that_, Mr. Wright, is _what _depends on you..."

_Umbrae got down on one knee, bending over until his mouth was on the level with my ear and, with a sinister chuckle as if he found this to be overtly amusing, hissed into it,_ "It's all _your_ fault that we were forced to hurt you, you know. You _didn't_ do what we told you to do..." _His voice trailed off into half-smothered chuckles and I could all but feel his lips curling into a toothy snarl even though I couldn't see him, or anythi_ng _else, in the dark. I didn't know_ which _was scarier:_ what _he said or_ how _he said it in such a reasonable tone that I was beginning to wonder if it _was_ true that, in the end, it really_ was _my fault that all of this had happened._

No! _I couldn't let them get to me like this._ It's not my fault! I'm _not_ to blame for this; they kidnapped me and imprisoned me here! That wasn't my fault! None of this is my fault! _I shook my head a little, moaning as a fresh wave of pain traveled through my forehead and down the right side of my neck as both Kaine and Umbrae chortled softly, enjoying the sight that unfolded at their feet. I writhed in pain from my prone position on the ground, gritting my teeth so hard that I was surprised that they didn't split from the pressure, mewls of pain being forced through my tightly pressed lips._ I _can't_ let him get to me; I _can't _or I'll_ never_ see my loved ones again...

**Or... him...**

_My memory had been coming back slowly and I knew, beyond a reasonable doubt, that those beautiful grey eyes that so often haunted my dreams and waking hours belonged to someone that I definitely knew... and, if my captors' words were anything to go by, deeply loved as well._

"Yes, Mr. Wright," _Umbrae continued blithely, his tongue snaking out and gently curving around the shell of my ear while I shuddered in such revulsion that it seemed to amuse him rather than anger him, my stomach heaving as the unwanted caress continued; it was with a great surge of relief to me when he finally stopped. Curiously, he _didn't_ seem angry or offended, as I had noted earlier but, on the contrary, he seemed to be _expecting_ it._ "In the end, it all depends on you." _He giggled._ "What will you do, Mr. Wright? What course of action will you choose and what will your choices mean for those who love you... and whom you love?" _He nuzzled my ear playfully, his voice lowering to a seductive, though grating, whisper._"What will it mean for your Mr. Edgeworth who is so desperately trying to come to your rescue?"

_I couldn't help it; I started in surprise as he laughed heartily at my reaction and I cringed as his loud, braying laugh echoed painfully in my ears._

Mr. … Edgeworth is... _looking_ for... me? But... _how_? _Who_... is he? _I struggled to overcome the fogginess in my brain but, at the moment, it was useless since a thick wall shut it off completely._ Is _he_ the one who's beautiful grey eyes I keep seeing in my mind's eye, in times of greatest need and in my dreams?

"Yes," _Umbrae murmured scathingly, enjoying the spectacle of my pained movements on the ground in front of him, the chains clinking maliciously as they bit into the flesh of my wrists, a groan of pain bubbling up past my lips before I had a chance to stop it_, "your beloved Mr. Edgeworth is, even as we speak, organizing three of your friends to help him plan your rescue." _He nuzzled my ear again with the tip of his nose gently and I could feel my stomach knotting up once again as he did so._ "How sweet of him, is it not? He _does_ love you, you know, with a love that is most passionate and consuming which means-" _He paused a moment_ -"that he will do _anything_ we want to get you back safely in _his_loving arms once again..."

"But will he?" _Kaine put in, his voice lowering into a feral snarl as he, in turn, knelt on the ground, leaning over me, his gloating face semi-blurred in the perpetual pitch-blackness of my prison._ "Or will he come back to a lifeless corpse and spend the rest of his life lamenting over his lost love?" _I could see his glittering eyes gleaming maniacally in the darkness and I shrank away from him as far as I could only to bump into Umbrae on the opposite side. I cried out in pain as he leaned over and bit my ear as hard as he could, drawing blood in the process; I could hear him licking his lips with relish in the dark and I moaned in desperation as I tried to get away from him, pawing the ground futilely beside me._ "_That_ would satisfy _me_ very much, indeed but, as I have stated before, we _have_ given our word _not_ to harm you..."

"Much," _Umbrae put in impishly, both men laughing uproariously at his little joke._

"Indeed," _Kaine put in smoothly after their laughter had died down to be replaced by a chilling half-silence_, "and, as long as you keep your end of the bargain and your Mr. Edgeworth keeps his, you will be returned to him unharmed, as we've promised."

"But if he _doesn't_, and you _don't_," _Umbrae interrupted once again, his emerald-green eyes practically glowing in the darkness as Kaine nodded his approval_, "then _my _knife will have such fun, carving up your flesh until you beg me to kill you, your screams echoing sweetly in my ears as you die in bitter agony, never seeing your precious Mr. Edgeworth again... But, best of all, he will rue, until his dying day, his inability to save you..."

_He sat back on his heels and, after taking a deep breath, he began to chant in a high-pitched, childish sing-song voice and I trembled as I heard it, chills racing up and down my spine at the insane cackling tone it had._ _He grabbed me and pulled me into an upright, sitting position while I stared at him mutely, my eyes wide and frightened as I was forced to look at one of my captors full in the face_. "**Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Humpty Dumpty had a great fall/All the king's horses/And all the king's men/Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again!**"

_I hear the loud, braying laugh and I could see him close his eyes momentarily and moaning softly as he enjoyed the thought once the laughter had stopped, my ears ringing in the silence. I could also dimly see him swallowing hard, a sinister smile spreading over his face as he leaned backward, his arms spreading out on both of his sides as he did so._

"Yes," _Umbrae said in a chillingly high falsetto voice_, "_that_ would be impeccable... and Kaine's perfect revenge on Mr. Edgeworth for causing the death of Neill would be complete... -" _Umbrae's mad eyes gleamed in the darkness as he turned those piercing orbs on me._ - "...with _your_ death!" _The last word was spat out with such hatred and venom that I could feel little drops of spittle falling onto my cheek __like rain; I shrank back from them, my eyes widening and rolling in fear, moaning pitifully._

_All I wanted was to be free of these two but that looked like it wouldn't be happening anytime soon. I was scared stiff of them... and they knew it. All they were doing was toying with me, to see how far they could push me until I broke._

"Well, well!" _Kaine laughed, leaning over me once again, his glittering eyes looking down into my own, genuine amusement in his voice._ "Is our little mouse afraid of the big bad wolves? Hmmmm...?" _His head came closer to mine until my peripheral vision was filled with his ugly, sneering face._ "Well, Mr. Wright... are you afraid of _us_?"

_Umbrae cackled and I winced at the loud noise that painfully sliced through my pounding head. "_I would say so, Kaine! I think he's afraid of us!"_ He lifted his head and I could see the dim outline of Kaine that was standing on my other side, his mouth splitting into a feral smile. My mind screamed in agony but I was desperately trying to keep it under control even as my captors laughed at my fear, popinjay pecking and insults pouring from their lips in a steady stream although I did my best to try and ignore them. It was difficult to keep silent, what with the strangling fear I could feel rising steadily within me. I knew, without having to think about it, that my survival depended on my silence and I fought like a demon to keep my mouth firmly shut._

_I could think what I liked but, as long as I didn't say it, everything would be all right since, as I well knew, they would take my silence as acquiescence, that they had broken me sufficiently that I would pose no further threat to them nor would I be so foolish as to respond._

_After some time, seeing that I wasn't responding to anything they were saying, both Kaine and Umbrae fell silent and stood up. I could see them dimly in the pale light given off by the flashlight and I could see that both of them were well pleased. I also noticed that they were covered with some peculiar dark substance but I couldn't quite make out exactly what that was..._

Thank heaven I read them right. _I could feel my limbs turning into water as I slid to the ground and lay splayed out, rolling over slowly and closing my eyes tightly shut, two tears trickling silently down my cheeks. I wasn't sure exactly why: whether from relief or fear, I couldn't tell which._ God, I want to go home! Dr. Benson... _where_ are you? **HELP ME!**

"Come, Umbrae," _Kaine said tenderly and I could hear Umbrae walk over to his side, purring delightedly,_"the night is long and we have much work to do."

"Yes, Kaine," _he murmured in agreement_, "we have much to do and not much time to do it in."

"Indeed not." _I could hear a soft, wet sucking noise and my stomach churned at the sound and it was with great relief to me when the sound stopped and Kaine spoke again._ "I'm afraid that we must take our leave of you for now, Mr. Wright," _Kaine said lazily,_ "but, rest assured, we _will_ be back." I _could almost see the sneer on his face as he quipped, shortly before the two of them turned to leave,_"Don't leave now, Mr. Wright; we expect to see you here when we return!"

_Umbrae's answering guffaw ripped through the darkness and I clapped my hands over my ears at the noise, a thin scream ripped from between my tightly pressed lips, the rattling of the chains only adding to my misery. I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up before I went mad; any way you __looked at it, my situation was dire and desperate and I had no idea how long it would be before I saw Dr. Benson again._

_He's_ my _only_ chance of making it out of here alive! _Where_ is he? _I could feel myself starting to panic and, although I desperately tried to suppress it, it couldn't have escaped either one of them that I was nearing the end of my rope. There was a few moments of silence before I heard some soft whispering and barely heard the soft shuffling sound of someone walking over to where I lay._

_I could hear someone-at this point I wasn't sure who it was-and, getting down on one knee and leaning over me once again, I heard Umbrae's deceptively soft voice say,_ "Here's your shot from Doctor Benson, Mr. Wright." _I heard Kaine sniggering in the background and I wondered why before I felt a cool, wet swipe over my arm and the pricking of a needle as he injected me with a powerful sedative. I could feel my head beginning to swim as it took effect, the room spinning before my eyes as I rolled over onto my back, looking fuzzily up at the ceiling, my lips parting slightly and my fingers flexing and twitching as they lay palm side up._

_I could dimly make out the satisfied countenances of Kaine and Umbrae before they started to flicker in and out of focus, swirling crazily together until it seemed that the two men were one single organism. My eyelids fluttered crazily and my head lolled from side to side as I tried to quell the sick feeling in my stomach; I could hear the voices speaking but I couldn't make out all the words since they sounded like one long run on sentence with no punctuation._

_I lifted my hand shakily up, staring at it as if it belonged to someone else, my fingers twitching and covered with a weird, dark substance. My brow furrowed as the sickly sweet smell hit my nostrils, my stomach heaving once more._

What... _is_ this stuff? Why does it smell... so... _odd_...? Is... this...?

_I don't know how long I lay there, staring up at my hand until I lost consciousness, the last sound I heard was the banging of the steel door as it shut behind Kaine and Umbrae as they left the oubliette and I knew that I was once again alone in the dark... save for that beautiful pair of grey eyes that followed me into the darkness, love and concern reflected in those compassionate grey orbs._

Mr. Edgeworth? Is... _that_ who _you_ are? Are... _you_ the... grey... eyes...? _My hand fell to the ground, my fingers still twitching._ Please... tell... me... I... I... _need_... to... know...

_Blackness rolled in and I knew no more._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_October 29th_  
_Mount Carmel Cemetery_  
_Los Angeles, CA_  
_11 P. M._

I bit my lip as I looked around the cemetery, my eyes beginning to adjust to the dim light that filtered through the thick fog in silvery, watery rays. I put my hand against the top of my eyes and stared hard into the foggy night, trying to see what was ahead of me as we carefully made our way across the cemetery.

_I wonder who the anonymous caller was who tipped us off to this place? _It certainly _was_ quite an odd coincidence, to say the least.

I could hear Detective Gumshoe and Ms. Fey exchanging the odd, muffled exclamation as they walked beside me on my right with Ms. Skye close behind on my left and I slowed as I heard her struggling to keep up, sighing loudly as I did so.

_I think that taking these three along was a mistake but I certainly wasn't going to act upon an anonymous tip without bringing backup. _I glanced at the puffing trio as they slowly came up to where I was standing, my arms folded across my chest, my index finger tapping out an impatient rhythm on the inside of my arm.

While I waited for my colleagues to catch up-which seemed to me to be an eternity-I worried my bottom lip thoughtfully as I remembered the rather cryptic message that appeared on my cell phone two hours earlier.

I'd frozen when I heard the ring-tone go off and so had Ms. Fey who was standing next to me, her hand still lying on my arm; I couldn't help but cringe as I remembered the horrifying picture that had appeared: Phoenix, beaten and bloody, with the words "_You Were Warned..._" appearing underneath as a sickening caption. I _hadn't_ wanted to pick up but, as both Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey had pointed out, it would be worse _not _to answer the call. What if the answer we had been looking for was contained in _this_ call but we ignored it?

I'd hadn't been happy about it but, as I couldn't argue the point, I reluctantly reached into my pocket, took out my cell phone, flipped it open, pressed the "talk" button, put it to my ear and, with great trepidation plainly evident in my tone said, Hello?"

Without deigning to reply, the electronically scrambled voice wasted no time in getting to the point.

"_The one you seek_," the voice said impassively while I struggled to try and identify the caller, "_is in the Mount Carmel cemetery underneath the life-size crucifix._" Before I even had a chance to open my mouth to ask who was calling or even a moment to demand an explanation of these cryptic words, a sharp, buzzing sound interrupted, indicating that the caller had hung up after delivering this cryptic message. I swallowed hard as my shaking fingers pressed the "talk" button, the cell phone nearly slipping out of my numb hand.

_The one you seek is in the Mount Carmel cemetery underneath the life-size crucifix._I shook my head violently, trying to disperse the feeling of unease that had begun to perforate my being; if there were ever a time that my head needed to be clear, this was it. Once I had my racing heart and emotions under control, my eyes narrowed as I began to digest this internally.

For some inexplicable reason, I _couldn't_ help feeling that it was a trap but, at this point in time, we really _didn't_ have too many options left open to us. Therefore, despite my feelings to the contrary, we were left with no other choice but to go to Mount Carmel cemetery and see _who_, or _what_, showed up.

While we made our preparations, my thoughts were whirling chaotically over one another, my heart racing as, once more, I broke out into a cold sweat. I dreaded going to the cemetery since I had the sinking feeling that our trip would end in tragedy... and the dead body that would invariably show up, so I thought, would be Phoenix's.

_Enough!_ I gave my head another hard shake as I forced my numb feet forward, my eyes narrowing as I tried to see through the thickening fog that was slowly surrounding us like a shroud, making it nearly impossible to see two inches ahead of us and I couldn't help but wonder what dangers were lurking out there in the dark. _I have to stop thinking like that!_ I could feel my fingers clench into hard fists, my jaw setting into a firm line. _I have to think positively. Whoever the caller was, he or she didn't specify who would be found in the cemetery; if it were Kaine or Umbrae and they had killed Phoenix, I highly doubt that either of them would wait to twist the knife. They'd be more than eager to call and brag about what they did... hell, they'd send me another picture over my cell phone just to rub it in!_

I stopped for a moment, taking in a deep breath while I could hear Ms. Skye, Ms. Fey and Detective Gumshoe struggling along in the darkness, with the occasional muffled exclamation when someone, either Detective Gumshoe or Ms. Skye, tripped over an exposed root. _There _has_ to be something else going on here and not only Phoenix's kidnapping. _Someone_ is sending us here for a reason although I don't know exactly what that reason is right now. Still... it feels like a trap and I haven't been able to shake that feeling for the past two hours which in and of itself, is bad. I learned a long time ago to trust my gut feeling and this feels very wrong although I really don't know why._

The further we traveled into the cemetery, the more uneasy I felt; when I thought about it, I was surprised that the same feeling didn't seem to resonate with the trio. I gave them a cursory glance as they slowly came into view.

_I wonder why they don't seem to be affected by all the gloom. Maybe it's just me._

I shivered as the wet chill began to permeate through my black trench-coat; I was spooked and wasn't ashamed to admit it. The pall that had hung over the cemetery earlier in the evening had become more suffocating and claustrophobic the longer we were here; the funereal gloom was also bothering me and it really was getting under my skin.

I could feel chills running up and down my spine the further we walked in until, by the time we could dimly see the outline of the crucifix standing on a hill in the distance, I was ready to turn around and leave the premises altogether. I didn't know how the trio felt but I was more than willing to turn around and go back the way we came.

Just when I was about to turn and start to make my way out of the cemetery, a loud crash startled me and I jumped when I heard the first peal of thunder rumble overhead which was followed shortly by a flash of forked lightning which sizzled and crackled in the dark sky.

I pressed my hand hard to my chest, closing my eyes and waiting until my heart returned to its rightful place in my chest from its impromptu trip up into my throat; judging by the startled oaths and squeaks from Detective Gumshoe, Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey, I _wasn't _the only one who had been taken off guard by the unexpected storm.

_Wonderful._ I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as thunder continued to rumble and I felt the first drops of rain beginning to fall. _Just what we needed... _another_ problem!_ I looked down with distaste at the wet soil, pools of liquid mixing with it and making a sticky and gummy mess. _There goes_ another _pair of shoes..._

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard a voice ask out of the darkness and I realized that it was coming from Ms. Skye who, with Detective Gumshoe and Ms. Fey, had finally caught up to me.

"Yes, Ms. Skye?"

"Have we arrived to the place that the caller indicated yet?"

"Not yet." I pointed the flashlight beam in a sweeping arc that dimly lit up the crucifix in the distance. "We're about three hundred yards or so away from it."

"Then why are we standing here instead of going over there?" she asked reasonably although I could hear a note of faint reproach in her voice.

"Because," I explained, turning to face her with a grim countenance, "I'm afraid that it feels like a trap and I'm very sketchy about walking blindly, not to mention willingly, into what could be an ambush set up by those two."

Ms. Skye gasped. "Do you think that this is a trap?"

I shrugged. "I don't know for sure but that's what it feels like to me." I set my jaw. "I can't help feeling that we're being herded toward something and, to be truthful, I _don't_ like it one bit." I looked off into the distance, biting my lip as I saw the crucifix being lit up by the lightning that cracked and sizzled overhead. "Think about it: we have an anonymous phone caller who's hiding their identity by using an electronic voice scrambler and that person tells us to look in a _certain_ cemetery, in a _certain _place for the answer we're looking for."

I shook my head, beads of rain flying in all directions. "First of all, _who_ knows how to reach me on my cell phone? _Who_ knows my cell phone number? How does this person know what it is we're attempting to find? It's just _too_ pat to be coincidental. As I said before, I _don't _like it; it feels like we're being lured into a tiger pit and I really don't like being led around by the nose into something that we might not be able to extricate ourselves from later."

"But if we _don't_," piped up another voice that belonged to Ms. Fey and followed by a rumbling agreement that came from Detective Gumshoe, "we'll _never_ know! Our inaction could doom Nick to-" she stopped a moment to compose herself before continuing, my heart lurching at the implication that I was only _too_ well aware and didn't need to be reminded of. "-to... to..." She fell silent for a moment before bursting out, "We _can't_ let that happen, Mr. Edgeworth... we just _can't_!"

_She's right you know, Miles,_ I thought to myself sadly, looking once more at the ground because I couldn't bear to look her in the face. _She's just as worried about him as you are but _what_ is it that you're _really_ afraid of? It's finding out that the body lying there at the foot of the crucifix will be Phoenix's, isn't it? You know that's what's really bothering you... and the knowledge that you failed to protect him. Again.  
_

I was silent for some time, the rain gathering momentum as the moments passed. "I_ know_, Ms. Fey," I said tiredly, rubbing my eyes with my fingertips, "but we _have_ to be careful. We _can't_ afford to take _any_ chances with these two; we _know_ what they're capable of and I'd rather _not_ walk blindly into their loving arms if I can possibly help it."

I could see their faces in the intermittent flashes of lightning that crackled above; I could tell that they weren't happy about having to take this slow but they did understand where I was coming from and, in the end, agreed with me about the need for caution.

_We_ can't _back out now._ _We_ have _to go forward to find out the truth... even if it turns out to be something that we_ don't _want to face._

"Well, then," I said quietly, taking a deep breath before turning to face the trio after some time had passed, the rain and wind starting to increase in ferocity, "shall we go and see what's waiting for us?"

They nodded as one and I swallowed hard, took and deep breath and made my feet move in the direction of the crucifix, the three following silently after me. Dread encompassed every step about _what_ we would find at the foot of the crucifix... or _who_.


	11. All The King's Horses All The King's Men

_A/N: I do not own Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey or Ema Skye; they belong to CAPCOM. However, Dr. Benson, Umbrae, Kaine and the plot are mine. :)_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_The time has come to reveal the truth and the body lying at the base of the crucifix in Mount Carmel Cemetery holds the key to resolving the mystery of just who it is that's lying there._ _Is Miles and company too late_ _or is it only the beginning of another mystery?_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Whew! At last, chapter 11! Quite a conundrum, isn't it? Things are coming to a head and, while one mystery will be solved, another one will raise its head and muddy further the dark waters...

I can see Miles wanting to protect both of the girls from seeing the crime scene, a pretty horrific sight, all told, and do not think it would be out of character for him to do so. While both of them have been at crime scenes before, they haven't come across something as gruesome as this so I can see why he'd want to spare them that... even if they don't agree with him _or_ his reasoning. [Which they don't but they do as he says, with reluctance and much muttered grumbling, since Miles_ is_ the one in charge.] I can't blame him, really; _I'd_ do the same thing if I were in Miles' shoes.

Nursery rhymes can sure be creepy, can't they? *Toothy smile* There is a reason why I included this particular rhyme; can you figure out why and whom this particular rhyme is referring to as the "King" and the "King's Men"? :^)

My apologies for taking so long with this chapter; busyness rl, writer's block, damned colds and other things all ganged up on me at once! I haven't written PxE for awhile that I've actually finished; I have starts and stops of various fics, including my PxE fics, so I am happy that I've managed to get_ this_ chapter done!

"Laddie" is a Scottish word for "lad." "UNSUB" means "Unknown Subject," a tip of the hat to the TV program_ Criminal Minds_.

_**Thank you **_to all my readers: those who have commented, read, reviewed, favourited/story alerted my stories and thanks also to those who have author alerted/favourite authored, as well! I appreciate it very much! I am glad that you are enjoying my stories and I hope that you will continue to enjoy them in the future! :) Also, thank you all for your continued patience! I really appreciate it!

**Thank you** to Midnight-hunter for betaing the first three pages of this fic. Much appreciated! :)_  
_

_**Special thanks** _to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his encouragement, love, concern and for reigniting the fire within me to write! Love you, honey, and thanks!

As always, reviews, comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated! I aim to improve my writing and comments do help me to do just that: by letting me know what you like, what you don't and what needs improvement. :)

Rated Teen, PxE, male/male relationships_, _Suspense/Romance

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**  
_

_October 29th  
Time: Unknown  
Location: Unknown_

_I woke up with a heavy head, and an even heavier heart, to another day-or would that be week?-in my dark prison, my stomach queasy and my head spinning. For some reason, I felt _very _sick and I could move only with great difficulty as if my body were residing in a thick, heavy syrup. I couldn't understand _why _I was feeling so weird; normally, when Dr. Benson gave me my injections, I felt better but now for some inexplicable reason, I_ didn't _feel good at all._

Maybe he's changed the dosage,_ I thought, trying to keep the contents of my stomach inside while it churned and rolled, _or it could be that he's run out of the usual sedative he gave me and needed to substitute it with something else that he had handy until he could get some more of the sedative he's been using. Maybe he _didn't_ want to worry me which is why he didn't mention it. That would explain why I feel so sick...

_I rolled over onto my side, drawing my knees close to my chest, curling into a tight ball, squeezing my eyes shut._ When will he be coming again? _I uncurled a little when I felt like my insides were going to explode via my spleen; once I had, I felt the pressure vanish and I lay still on the cold, hard ground._ It's been awhile since my last injection and, the way I'm feeling now, I really could use another.

_I swallowed, wanting my spinning head to stop and wishing that I could see Dr. Benson again. I missed his visits and his jovial and outgoing personality, a welcome relief in this place of never ending darkness and mused as to the reason, or reasons, for his absence. _

I wonder what could be keeping him?_ I mused fretfully, the manacles on my wrists clinking as I lifted my arm up to my face, scrubbing at my eyes with impatient fingers, trying to clear them but only succeeding in poking myself in the eye, cursing loudly as I did so. _He's never been gone _this_ long before, not that I can remember, anyway. My memory's still a bit fuzzy on that..._ I sighed, lying down on the ground once more, my head pillowed on my crossed arms._ It's certainly a depressing thought, isn't it? He's my_ only _friend here in the dark and he's been absent for a few days-or what _feels _like a few days, anyway-and I'm worried about him. I worry that he's gotten on the wrong side of _them_ and _they've _either hurt him badly _or _worse...

_I shuddered and quickly turned my mind away from that unsettling, and frightening, thought. I didn't even _want_ to consider that possibility but yet it nagged at me in the back of my head like a headache that just wouldn't go away, forcing me to confront the awful truth of that statement whether I wanted to or not. _

_And I most certainly didn't, at this point; Dr. Benson was the _only _hope I had of getting through this with my life, and sanity, intact and I_ didn't_ want to consider the possibility of his coming to some harm at the hands of Kaine and Umbrae. They certainly _were _capable of unspeakable acts of violence toward another human being and, of _that_, I was left in _no_ doubt; I still hurt from the savage beating they'd given me awhile ago._

Look at what they did to_ you_,_ I thought, my hands trembling so badly that the chain attached to the manacles rattled which further depressed my already flagging spirits, casting me deep into the pit of despair. _If_ they _did that to _you,_ who knows what they could do to him! _I clapped my hands to both sides of my head, moaning in pain as the rattling of the chains drove me further into near-madness with that awful cacophony._ _He _challenged _them_ and you know _quite_ well that _they _won't let_ that_ pass _without _retribution...!

_I couldn't help the direction that my thoughts were heading in, I was filled with so much anger and despair. _You stupid,_ stupid_ fool! _I found myself railing against him in my mind and I pulled up with a great deal of shock, intermingled with shame, when I realized in which direction that my thoughts had taken. Why _did you have to challenge them? Why? _I clenched my hand into a fist and pounded the rough floor beneath me as hard as I could, wailing my pain, fear and frustration to the uncaring darkness that surrounded me._ Damn it, you're my _only _hope in getting out of here alive!

_To my horror and shame, I felt my eyes begin to well up, tears coursing down my face in a steady stream. I tried to stop them but I found that I couldn't and realized soon after, with shaking hands and a queasy stomach, that I had reached the limit of my endurance, that I couldn't take anymore. _

_My entire world came crashing down on me in that instant as a few unsavory facts became perfectly clear: Dr. Benson had been my one hope of leaving this Stygian underworld alive and now he was missing. He. Was. Missing. The horror, and the reality, of my situation became ominously clear in those few moments with those three words as did my feeling of helplessness when I realized that I _was_ trapped and that I _couldn't_ fight back against my jailers. _

_I was stuck inside a place god only knew where, imprisoned deep within the bowels of the earth, being kept constantly, day after day and night after night-not that I could tell the two apart anymore and I really had no idea of how much time had passed-perpetually in the dark._

_My _one_ hope, my _only _hope to be free of this awful place, was missing. I had an awful feeling about the fate of Dr. Benson in the pit of my stomach that I truly hoped _was _wrong; even the grey eyes that had been my source of comfort, besides the good doctor, came less and less these days and I really couldn't figure out why. _

_A lot of the haze in my memory that had been plaguing me for some time had been burned away and I was beginning to remember more things about myself: where I came from, what my name was, what I did for a living, my assistant-and her cousin's-names and what relationship they had with me and that I had a lover with grey eyes out there somewhere who was probably looking for me although his name still remained beyond my reach. What still eluded me, and frustratingly so, was _why _I'd been put here in the first place, _who_ I was exactly-all I had were just hazy bits and pieces of fragmented memory-and my lover's name, although I couldn't help but wonder if my lover, as both Kaine and Umbrae kept insisting, was the purported and perpetually shadowy "Mr. Edgeworth." _

_Try as I might, I _still_ couldn't come up with a solid face that matched the name although bits and pieces of one still floated around in my memory and I frantically tried to grab those pieces but they vanished like smoke on the wind, remaining out of reach to my great despair. Everything was slipping through my trembling fingers and, the more desperately, and tightly, that I tried to hold onto them, the more frequently they disappeared, leaving an empty, hollow space behind._

-**XXXXXXXXXXX**-

_October 29th  
Mount Carmel Cemetery  
Near the crucifix  
11:30 P.M._

The closer we came to the crucifix in front of that high and crumbling brick wall, the heavier my feet became. I couldn't help envisioning Phoenix lying dead underneath it until it got to the point where I wanted to turn and run away but I couldn't. I _had_ to know! No matter what the outcome might turn out to be, I_ had _to know if an unimaginably cruel twist of fate had deprived me of my beloved forever.

_God spare us that!_

The storm had picked up in intensity and I winced slightly as I felt fat drops slapping against my skin, leaving a palpable sting in their wake. Ms. Skye, Ms. Fey and Detective Gumshoe were lagging slightly behind me, each step echoing the dread that we all felt.

We had no idea, at this point, at what, or who, we would find beneath the crucifix but as we slowly came closer I could see, through the shroud-like fog, the beginning of an outline of .._.something ._.. crumpled at the base of the crucifix itself although, at this distance, I couldn't see what was there clearly. I didn't know if it was a body or something else; I swallowed hard but forced myself to continue moving forward, one agonizing step at a time.

Step after step, we came ever closer to solving the mystery of what awaited us at the foot of the crucifix; we could see that the outline was _definitely_ that of a body and it was lying in a crumpled heap, arms and legs akimbo in odd and unnatural positions.

I could feel Ms. Skye wince and even Detective Gumshoe drew in his breath sharply as we walked on, Ms. Fey remaining remarkably silent though I could hear her whispering something under her breath. I wondered if it were a prayer.

Fifty steps to go.

The most painful fifty steps I'd ever taken in my life. All of what I had endured in the past seemed like a cakewalk in comparison but I forced myself to go forward, my feet feeling like they were immersed in a sticky glue.

Forty.

_Keep going; keep going. No matter how hard it will prove to be, I need to know. I_ squeezed my eyes shut momentarily and waited until I could feel the swimming behind them cease before I opened them again to the funereal gloom. _We all do..._

Thirty.

_We can't turn back now. We _have_ to press on..._

Twenty.

_I don't want to do this!_

Ten.

_It's too late to turn back now... I _have _to know the truth, for _his _sake...and mine. _I forced my feet to move forward.

Five.

_Five more steps, Miles... only five more steps and then... we'll know the truth._

Zero.

I stopped in front of the crucifix, taking another deep breath, blinked my eyes a few times to clear my vision and willing my racing heart to calm, forcing my chaotic thoughts to still. If there was ever a time that I needed to have my head clear and focused, this was it.

_Time to find out the truth. Whatever it will prove to be._

Swallowing hard past the lump in my throat, I forced myself forward, bending slightly at the waist, my eyes widening as I looked down at the dimly lit wreckage of what was once a human body with a sharp intake breath.

-**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

_Time: Unknown_

_I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, mewling sounds pouring from between tightly compressed lips_. I..._ can't... _do this anymore... I just... _can't_! _I pounded my fist against the hard ground again, ignoring the razor sharp pain I felt coursing through my hand and arm. _I'm still not even sure, _really _sure, exactly _who_ I am or exactly _why _I was put in here! _Nothing _makes any sense!

_I pounded the uncaring ground until I no longer had the strength to do so, sprawling in a messy heap in front of the wall, loud, hiccuping sobs being torn from deep within me. All of my rage, my confusion and frustration, and my hopelessness and helplessness all came out in a rushing tide and, while in one respect I _did_ feel a bit better after all was said and done, in another I felt worse than I had before._

_As much as I would have preferred not to, I now_ had _to face the truth and a bitter one it was: I was alone in this horrible place and I'd reached the end of my rope; there was _no_ other place to go but down, into that dizzying abyss; only there would I find a way out of this and only there could I ever hope to find some measure of peace._

I give up,_ I thought to myself tonelessly, closing my eyes once again as I lay there sprawled on the ground. _I'm_ neve_r going to get out of here; they'll _never _let me go. Dr. Benson is gone and even the grey eyes have abandoned me. _I sighed brokenly, my arm slowly rising in the air to cover my eyes._ I might as well just give up; it will be much easier that way...

-**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

_October 30th  
Mount Carmel Cemetery  
Midnight_

"Oh... my god..." I whispered, Detective Gumshoe, Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey's startled acclamations coming from behind me as I straightened up and stepped quickly forward into the pale moonlight, my face as white as the marble stand that the crucifix stood on. In a momentary spasm of panic, I leaned in close to the remains and was simultaneously startled, and then relieved, as I got a good look at the body and realized that, whoever this was, it wasn't Phoenix!

_Wait a minute! This..._ isn't_... Phoenix... I'm sure of it! It's too stocky to be him! Who is this?_

I could dimly see Ms. Fey's frightened and white face looking past my shoulder, her hands trembling as she crumpled the handkerchief she held in her hand with such violence that I was surprised that she didn't tear it to bits in her agitation.

"Get back!" I barked and Ms. Fey jumped, her eyes widening in surprise, an undignified squeak of protest rising to her lips that was quickly silenced when she got a good look at my face. "All of you—**GET BACK**!"

"But, Mr. Edgeworth..." Ms. Skye began but I waved my hand impatiently, ruthlessly cutting her off and shaking my head.

"That means you too, Ms. Skye!" I snarled and she obeyed, white to the lips. "Get back and **STAY BACK!**" I could hear her grumbling underneath her breath but with a note of hysteria; clearly, my swift change upon discovering the body had frightened both Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey but I was determined to at least shield them from the gruesome, sickening scene that was unfolding on the ground in front of me.

I took another deep breath and swiveled slightly, fixing Detective Gumshoe with a gimlet eye that clearly got across the fact that I meant business and said grimly, in a tone that brooked no argument, "I want you to keep them away from here and make sure they stay away. This is_ no _place for them!"

Detective Gumshoe swallowed and looked, for a moment, to be about to say something but wisely closed his mouth and nodded grimly as he gently started herding the girls to a tree somewhere beyond the dim light.

The moon hung low in the dark night sky, peeking out from behind the wall of fog, showering pale, watery rays of moonlight that gently illuminated the crucifix and surrounding pedestal. The vivid splashes of blood on the pedestal and the Saviour's marble feet seemed to take on a life of their own in the dim light with a sickening clarity.

I could feel my gorge rise but I forced myself to move even closer to the pitiful remains, going down on one knee directly in front of it, ignoring the fact that the ground was soaking wet, peering down on the remains with pity and revulsion in equal measures racing across my face.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_Time: Unknown_

_Another sob burbled up to my lips before I had a chance to stop it, although I no longer really cared. _Everything_ I'd known, _everything _and _everyone _I'd loved, even the life I had led before all this happened had been taken away from me and I was never going to get them back; even my traitorous memory was still fuzzy, bits and pieces of images, thoughts and memories all congealed in a cloud of unknowing, a tattered maze that led nowhere._

Dr. Benson_, I thought desperately once my sojourn in the land of self-pity had been completed and I'd wrestled hard in coming back,_ I really need you! I'm so tired... all I want to do is give up... Help me...! I can't do this anymore!

_A few heartbeats went by, the silence deafening as my heartfelt plea remained unanswered, swallowed up in the shroud-like darkness that forever encircled me... and would probably end up being my grave._

Useless... all of it... useless. _I clenched my teeth, impotent rage flowing through me as I struck out with my free hand, hearing those damned manacles clanking as I did so._ I'm going to die here... I'm going to die here all alone and_ no one _will _ever_ find me...

_A few heartbeats more and then..._

Well, laddie, _a bright, cheerful voice with a thick Scottish burr said near my left ear, my arm flying off of my eyes-and I nearly ended up hitting my cheek with the chain from the manacle that encircled my wrist-with a startled shout that I was sure could be heard above ground, _we'll just have to make sure that that_ doesn't _happen now, won't we?

"Dr. Benson... you're... _here_!" _I cried out, a sweet, seraphic smile spreading across his face as he knelt on the ground beside me, setting his black doctor's bag close by. _"Where have you been? What kept you? How-"

_I couldn't contain the surge of joy that raced through me as I saw him standing there, a dim light emanating from him; in my newfound happiness and surge of hope, I didn't think much of it at the time-other than to note that it was rather odd that he had light coming from within him-but tacked it up to my fevered imagination. What mattered most was that he was here!  
_

_He smiled gently at me as he turned away slightly, the crisp snap of the clips of his doctor's bag being opened seemed to echo throughout my silent underground prison and I could hear him rummaging around inside. _

_I had so many questions racing around in my mind that I felt dizzy but, whenever I opened my mouth to ask, all he did was smile, put his fingers to his lips and bade me to be silent while he continued his search. After being rebuffed in this manner a few more times, I fell silent, resolving to ask him about his absence when this was all over._

"Time for your shot,"_ Dr. Benson said cheerfully, chuckling as he added mischievously, _"This won't hurt a bit."_ I couldn't help to chuckle along with him as I felt him gently pick up my limp arm, wiping it quickly with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball and I sighed with heart-felt relief as I felt the sharp prick of the needle penetrating my skin followed by the blessed rush of the medicine into my body._

_Dr. Benson knelt there for some time, watching over me as the sedative began to slowly take effect, his face a mask of tender affection and concern. He reached down, took my hand and squeezed it before __putting it down again beside me, my swimming eyes having trouble focusing. The last I remembered before I sank into a deep sleep was his face, and that peculiar expression that seemed to speak volumes. _

"Rest now, laddie," h_e said quietly shortly before I was gently carried off into the darkness, "_I'll be back in a few days to see you again. Be safe and don't tell them about me... It's far safer for you if you _don't_..."

"What-?" _That single word was all I was able to get out before my eyelids fluttered shut, sinking deep into the darkness once more..._

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_October 30th  
Mount Carmel Cemetery  
12:10 A.M._

The remains lay sprawled at the Divine Crucified's feet in a grotesquely twisted heap and I could feel my heart leap into my throat when I forced myself even closer to get a good look at it. Upon closer examination, I could see the blood-drenched clothing the UNSUB wore, the weird, dark shadowy space that remained, for the moment, at least, hidden from view directly underneath the Crucified's feet.

Peering closer, I could see one bloody hand clutching something long and white with smudged, squiggly black marks which turned out to be a small piece of crumpled paper with something printed on it. My eyebrow rose in puzzlement while I took the time to digest this information.

_What on earth is a piece of crumpled up paper doing in the UNSUB's hand?_ I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing while I looked at the corpse, barely acknowledging the three pairs of eyes who were watching me uneasily. _There _must _be a reason otherwise why would it even be on the body in the first place?_

The sickeningly sweet stench of blood with its heavy, coppery overtones, hung thickly in the air around the UNSUB and I found it to be very difficult to breathe, the oppressive stench having an inverse affect on my stomach which began to heave violently, stars swimming before my eyes as I fought the urge to pass out.

I was determined to see this through and I forced myself to calm down, breathing rapidly through my mouth; after some moments had passed, my stomach settled down and I was able to continue with my grim task in silence.

"Is... is... _it._..?" I heard Ms. Fey's strained voice ask and I shook my head.

"No, it's_ not_ Phoenix, thank God!" I replied, my voice heavy with relief tinged with apprehension over the identity of the UNSUB that was sprawled out in front of me. I could also hear three other relieved sighs emenating from the darkness.

Silence reigned for some time before Ms. Skye broke it.

"Who... do we know _who_ it is?" Ms. Skye piped up, her voice tight with strain and unhappiness.

"No. I've never seen the UNSUB before, that much I am sure of." I squeezed my eyes tightly shut for a moment before opening them again. "I'm sure I would have recognized this person if I had seen them but it's a complete mystery to me _who_ this is... or exactly _what_ happened to the UNSUB."

I looked away for a moment, swallowing hard. "What I _can_ say at this juncture is that the UNSUB died a _very_ horrible death; judging by the amount of blood on both the UNSUB, the pedestal and the marble statue's feet, he or she was probably tortured before being killed with his or her death being protracted by whoever it was that killed the UNSUB."

My eyes traveled over the corpse before they swiveled to the tall, crumbling wall that was to the right of the crucifix, taking in the blood spatter that was sprinkled down the wall intermittently all the way down to ground level. "Shortly after the UNSUB was killed," I went on as if in a dream, "he was brought up to the top of this wall and either thrown, or pushed, off the top although just _how _those who killed the UNSUB managed to do this at this point is unknown." I sighed, rubbing my eyes with tired fingers. "We'll know more when I put the call into the police department to request for a C.S.I team and police backup." I looked up at the sky, my eyelashes fluttering on my cheeks as rain drops splattered intermittently against my chilled skin. "I don't know _who_ this poor soul is but we'll make every effort to discover the UNSUB's identity. It_ can't _be coincidence that a body would show up here since we were directed to come here by person or persons unknown..."

I swiveled back toward the corpse, taking another deep breath while I reached out for the hand that clutched that crumpled piece of paper. With a grimace of distaste, I gently pried the fingers back and, after some time, had succeeded in gradually pulling the paper free; I stood up, brushing the blood on the sodden grass, and holding the paper up to the moonlight.

I squinted, turning the paper this way and that as I tried to make sense of the printed words; that they had survived at all was a miracle and I put more effort into deciphering the enigmatic message. Time seemed to stand still in the cemetery while I worked hard to decipher the words that appeared to be no more than a sodden, matted mess of squiggly black marks.

My eyes widened and my hands began to shake as the message on the crumpled, sodden and blood-stained piece of parchment became sickeningly, and unmistakably, clear and I let out an involuntary moan.

_Oh, my God... It... _can't_... be!_

I swallowed hard as I looked once more down upon the blood-stained paper, my heart hammering in my chest so loud I was surprised that Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe couldn't hear it as they stood silently, though agitatedly, somewhere in the darkness.

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard Ms. Skye ask, her voice thick with tension and I could hear some rustling in the trees where they stood. "Mr. Edgeworth, what are you reading? What do you have?"

"The crumpled piece of paper that the UNSUB was holding in his hand," I replied tersely, swallowing a few times to clear my throat, my voice rough with dread and apprehension. "I... think I know what it says."

I looked down at the paper, reading these words:

**Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall  
Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall  
All The King's Horses  
And All The King's Men  
Couldn't Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again.**

"What does it say?" she persisted but I remained silent, refusing to answer her. She tried to pry more information out of me but I clamped my mouth tightly shut; if what I was reading was any indication, neither Ms. Skye or Ms. Fey would want to see what I was forced to contend with.

Whether Ms. Skye or Ms. Fey liked it or not, I was determined to protect them from this hideous scene and mere protestations from the girls were not enough to move me from this position; while they may have seen crime scenes before-and I was certain that Ms. Fey certainly had, having investigated cases with Phoenix-but I doubted that they had been exposed to such a hideous scene as this and I didn't want to expose them to it.

I read, and re-read the paper again a few more times to make sure that _what_ I was seeing, with sickening clarity, was exactly what was there. I now knew who was responsible and that the UNSUB, whose pitiful, wracked body was sprawled out beneath the crucifix, had somehow fallen foul of Kaine and Umbrae. This UNSUB, whoever he or she may have been in life, was who the caller had referred to in that cryptic minute or two long call that prompted us to come out here to investigate.

I looked down again at the printed words, a nursery rhyme of my childhood used to such hideous effect, effectively ignoring Ms. Skye's repeated questions:

**Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall  
Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall  
All The King's Horses  
And All The King's Men  
Couldn't Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again.**

My hand curled into a fist, my eyes narrowing as I thought of the poor unidentified soul that lay crumpled at my feet. While I didn't know at this point in time just _who_ this person was, he or she certainly didn't deserve to die in such a horrific manner. It made me more determined than ever to bring those two to justice.

_I'll beat you yet if it's the last thing I do, Kaine. You have my word on that._

I stood up, my face a grim mask as I reached into my pocket for my cell phone, brought it out, flipped it open and dialed a number with quick, efficient fingers. I had a call to make.


	12. Last Call

_A/N: I do not own Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, Detective Gumshoe, Ema Skye or Maya Fey; they belong to CAPCOM. Dr. Partridge, Dr. Benson, Kaine Mayhew, Umbrae, other C.S.I.'s and the plot belong to me. :)  
_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Phoenix is still imprisoned in the dark and is losing hope that he will ever be rescued. Miles is in the cemetery, hoping that the body discovered there could possibly be a lead in where to look for Phoenix. Things look very bad for both... and time is running out.  
_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Chapter 12! ::whew!:: It's taken awhile for this chapter but its done! :) I like the creepy tone! :)

Things are going from bad to worse and poor Phoenix is caught in the middle. Miles is at his wit's end about what to do or where to go; there's a harvest moon which Miles doesn't react to well (he's at the end of his rope and hoping fervently that it isn't too late to save Phoenix) and, to top it all off, Dr. Benson is_ still_ missing. Poor boys. A _very_ dire situation, indeed!

I remember when I saw my first harvest moon back in 1986; it _was_ rather startling seeing a blood red moon there in the sky! Up until that time, I had never seen one before and it _certainly_ made an impression! Hence, the inspiration for the lunar event.

Dr. Elizabeth Partridge is the M.E. from my fic _Turnabout Antiquity_. M.E.'s certainly have interesting thought processes. :D It was funny; I started writing the scene in the cemetery and put her in_ without_ any thought. [I hadn't _consciously_ thought of putting her in _Little Place of Forgetting_ but I suppose that she was determined to jump fics so here she is. :) ] I guess that's a sign that she's supposed to be here so I expanded her character a little here than what I have in _Antiquity_. :) Can't keep a good character down. :D [I'm not a forensic expert by any stretch of the imagination although I do know a little bit about blood spatter. I'm simply here to tell a story and therefore write fictitiously.]

Dr. Benson has returned! Good timing on his part! He seems to be a little magical and a little mystical, arriving _just_ when he's _most_ needed... He's a good man and a caring physician which is exactly what Phoenix needs most now. Phoenix is lucky to have such a caring doctor looking after him...

Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

**Thanks** to my readers and all those who have favourited, reviewed, story alerted, favourite author or author alerted me. I appreciate it more than I can say! :)

**Special thanks** to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his help, support, advice, nagging (when necessary), the title of this chapter and encouragement! I appreciate it more than I can say! Love you!

Comments are appreciated and are enthusiastically welcomed! :) *I'll probably change some things at some point; always room for improvement! :) *

Rated NC-17, male/male relationships, Phoenix & Edgeworth  
**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Time: Unknown  
Place: Unknown_

_The days seemed to crawl at a snail's pace here in the dark and I had no concrete idea of just how much time was passing or how much had already passed. Every day seemed the same, with nothing to separate it from any other of a thousand days. I had no idea, really, of what was going on outside of my prison. Time had ceased to have any meaning here._

_Kaine and Umbrae had been down to visit me again-along with taunts and threats, kicks to the side and a few slaps thrown in for good measure-a day or so ago; I hadn't seen Dr. Benson for awhile and I wondered at both his cryptic last words before he'd left on his last visit:_ "I'll be back in a few days to see you again. Be safe and don't tell _them_ about me... It's far safer for you if you _don't_..."

_What, exactly, had he meant by that? I'd mulled it over and over for some time in my still foggy brain and I was no closer to an answer now than I had been then. There was something decidedly odd about Dr. Benson's visits as of late: he seemed to have this soft, white glow about him (although this could have been due to a trick of the dim lighting), his voice managed to carry well to my ears even when he was whispering, and he always seemed to manage to steer clear, and stay out of sight of, both men._

_I couldn't help but wonder how he managed to do the latter but I was very grateful that he could; his visits were the only real thing that was keeping me from going stark raving mad. I continued to take comfort in that pair of loving, dark grey eyes that seemed to be my constant companion over the past few days-or was it weeks or months? I couldn't tell either way-and I derived great comfort for their lingering, and loving, presence._

Anything that helps me is a good thing. _I sighed as I rolled over onto my side, dragging the blanket that covered me up to my chin._ I don't know what I would do without them.

_My thoughts turned away from my present predicament to news of the slightly past present. I now knew that those eyes belonged to the man with whom I was in love with, Miles Edgeworth. My memory was still foggy on one or two additional details but I knew, without a doubt, that the previously shadowy presence who always lurked just a touch out of reach, was-is-my lover._

_It had come as a bit of a surprise, at first once I was beginning to regain my memory, after the cobweb covering my brain had melted away and the memories I had began coming back to the forefront of my mind but it hadn't been long before I'd accepted it as truth. It felt... _right_, for lack of a better word... and close to what I was now becoming more aware of feeling._

_I winced slightly, my fingers reaching up to touch the lump on my head gingerly. I still couldn't help but wonder why both Kaine and Umbrae had taunted me with this fact when I'd first been imprisoned here with a distinct loss of memory. Perhaps they they got some kind of sadistic pleasure out of it; they seemed to enjoy inflicting pain, whether mental or physical and I shuddered at the memory of what they had done to me. I didn't believe them at first and hadn't until it was incontrovertibly proven to be true._

Why _I fought against it with such vociferousness, I'll never know. Maybe it was because of the way they kept taunting me with it and throwing it up in my face; perhaps it was because I knew how deep their sadism went and merely thought it could be just another way to get at me with it, to get under my skin. I didn't know then and I still didn't now._

_What gave me pause was that they both kept insisting on the point and I had to wonder why. Was it just another way to torture me? Perhaps. I wouldn't put it past either of them, knowing what brutally sadistic men they both were and remembering just how much they had enjoyed the physical damage that they had inflicted, and continued to do so but not as much as they once had, on both my body and mind. These were not men that one wanted-or should-tangle with._

How is he? _I wondered, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth._ Is he all right? Has something happened to him? Does he even know I'm missing? _And this depressing thought pushed its way forward after I'd exhausted all the other questions:_ Is he even _looking_ for me?

_I didn't know where that had come from, exactly, but it certainly had the effect of sending my spirits spiraling downward once again; I felt like a black shroud had covered me as it had in the beginning, feeling like I'd been abandoned and all alone in the dark._

What's happening to me? Why am I even here? _I scrubbed at my eyes impatiently, leaving smudges of dirt underneath my eyes, trying to ignore the faint clanking of the manacles around my wrists._ What's the purpose in my being here? Why was I kidnapped in the first place? _I didn't know the answers to these questions just yet, further depressing my already distressed spirit._

Dr. Benson... where are you? _I thought desperately, squeezing my eyes tightly shut._ _Why_ aren't you here? _Why_ have you abandoned me? _I couldn't stop the two tears that were slowly sliding down my cheeks, a moan welling up deep inside me. He was my only chance of getting out of this alive and now he was missing, too. That was the only thing that I could think of: the man who was my one, shining chance of getting out of here hadn't been here for some time. Exactly how much time had passed, I didn't know but, since his visits were like clockwork, any discrepancy was bound to make me worry that something had happened. Maybe something already had. Maybe_ they...

_Despair threatened to overwhelm me as I slowly turned over, burrowing as far beneath the covers in my make shift bed as I could. It seemed never ending and all I could see was the lonely progression of days, not that I could really tell when one day ended and another began._

_It was all the same here in the lonely, suffocating dark..._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_October 31st  
Mount Carmel Cemetery, Catholic Side  
1:30 A.M._

Dr. Partridge stood up slowly, groaning a little as she did so, wincing as she felt a particularly sensitive spot in the middle of her back begin to throb with pain. She knew what that meant and sighed, stripping off her bloody gloves and tossing them into the plastic bag that lay on the ground at her feet.

She ran the fingers of her right hand through her shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair, grimacing as she did so, her left hand resting on her blue jeaned hip. She'd been a M.E. for over thirty years and she had _never_, in all that time that she could recall, come across such a horrific and bloody crime scene as the one that she was currently standing in. Although it had been raining for some time earlier, even _that_ wasn't enough to wash away the gore completely from where it stained the earth.

There was blood _everywhere_, covering nearly every square inch in a two foot radius around the life size crucifix, including splatters on the Divine Crucified's feet and a dark pool of blood that had congealed into a ghastly, sodden mess at the marble base. She repressed a shudder, closing her eyes and counting to ten and then took as deep breath as she opened her eyes.

_I haven't done that since I was a junior M.E. twenty years ago_, she thought with some chagrin, breathing through her open mouth when the stench of spilled blood became too much for her to bear, _and here I am acting like a greenhorn on my first case!_ Her lips twitched with mingled amusement and annoyance. _I must be getting old._

She shook her head hard to clear her thoughts, her eyes quickly skimming over the scene.

_What happened here?_ she wondered, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, her blue eyes narrowing thoughtfully. _Why is there such violence in this particular area but not in the rest?_ She glanced at the crucifix, illuminated by the harsh, white strobe lights that had been placed at surreptitious angles in the cemetery, giving the whole scene a ghastly, watery crimson flavor. _Why is most of the blood centered_ here _in front of the crucifix but not, as one would expect, in the area surrounding it or leading up to it?_

It seemed slightly blasphemous to her, that this horrific crime had taken place where it had: on the Catholic side of the cemetery and underneath Jesus' feet. She wasn't particularly religious herself but she had respect for all faith traditions-whether or not she agreed with those who practiced them-and it bothered her that there was such a horrendous lack of respect by having the poor soul murdered _here_.

_Not that there's any_ good _place to commit murder, mind you,_ she thought wryly, chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip, _it just seems..._ disrespectful, _somehow._ She looked once again around the general vicinity, doing her best to ignore the horror that lay around her, her mind whirling with questions. _I wonder if that was the intention or was it just a convenient place to dispose of the body?_ She cupped her chin between her thumb and index finger, walking in small circles around the cement pad on which the crucifix stood, her lips forming words but with no sound emerging.

One of the C.S.I.'s, a newcomer fresh from the academy, looked at Dr. Partridge oddly, wondering what on earth she was doing. Frowning, her head swiveled toward one of the veterans, a quizzical look on her face. She had wanted to be part of Dr. Partridge's team since she had read so much about her and her methods were ones that were taught as part of the curriculum in the Academy; she couldn't help but wonder why she was doing something that seemed so out of character for such a prominent, and highly respected, M.E.

Her colleague, who had been with Dr. Partridge for the past ten years, and well used to her unusual methods and eccentricities, had simply smiled and shook his head before he went back to collecting some more samples of the blood that lay on the ground. She blinked once, shrugged her shoulders and went back to her work.

Unaware that she had been under observation, Dr. Partridge's mind was whirling with possibilities as she walked, her eyes scanning the surrounding area with the expert's eye.

_Obviously, that was the intention. The question is why? Did the perpetrators have a beef with Christianity in general or with Roman Catholics_ specifically? _It would certainly explain why this poor soul was killed here and in such a horrifying manner._ Another possibility came to her mind as she surveyed the scene. _Is this a hate crime or something else? Or, conversely, is it a hate crime_ specifically _designed to_ look _like something else? If so, it's devilishly clever..._

She nibbled on a nail, her mind sifting through numerous other scenarios, turning slowly in a half-circle, studying the area around her to look for clues. _It seems unusual to pose the headless corpse underneath a crucifix but suppose that was the intention, to draw attention to it. Hmmmm... I wonder..._

She wrinkled her nose as she turned away and began walking over to one of her colleagues who was collecting evidence behind the crucifix, looking up as he heard her approach and nodding his head in welcome; she acknowledged this with a smile and nod of her own and he went back to work. _It seems rather a sick method of display, if you ask me. I wonder if it is display or could it be opportunity?_

For some reason that she couldn't explain, her eyes were consistently drawn to the crumbling wall that stood nearby. She tilted her head slightly to the right, looking hard at it for a few minutes, her left foot tapping the ground. _Something_ had caught her attention here but she wasn't really sure _what_.

Frowning, she walked over to it, her eyes darting over it quickly. There was _something_ here, she could feel it; the question was _where_?

_I'll mention it to Miles when I talk to him,_ she decided, taking a deep breath, _and see if he can make any sense of it._

As she walked in smaller and tighter circles, scanning the area with a practiced eye, I stood a few feet away, leaning against a tree. My arms were crossed over my chest, the muscles in my cheek twitching, my fingers clutching the inside of my arm while I watched her work.

I could feel my body vibrating with impatient energy; I felt like running up to her and shaking her, shouting at her not to dally but to hurry since we didn't have _any_ time to waste in pointless conjecture!

My feet were itching to move and it was with a great force of will that I managed to stay stationary where I was. They were professionals and they knew their jobs far better than I; all I was was an outsider looking in and I'd only get in the way if I made my way over there so I stayed put.

Not happily, or willingly, but I really didn't have much of a choice at this point. I hated not having any options and I hated feeling helpless even more.

Ms. Fey and Ms. Skye were leaning against the tree behind me, both of them quiet and subdued while Detective Gumshoe walked over to one of the C.S.I.'s he knew, a rather pretty young woman of average height, her dark honey hair pulled back in a serviceable braid. He asked her about the identification of the body, the evidence that they had found and collected and if they had any ideas as to what had happened.

I saw her shake her head every now and then, gesturing with her hands as she talked with Gumshoe nodding and asking questions. I had to clamp down on the impatience that was screaming and clawing at me; I knew that they were only doing their jobs but _I_ had a personal stake in all of this... and _his_ life is in serious jeopardy.

After what seemed to me to be an interminable eternity, I took a deep breath as Dr. Partridge walked up to me, her face pale in the harsh light but the look in her cerulean blue eyes was stone cold, her mouth twisted in a grimace of disgust. I felt my heart drop in the general direction of my feet; with a look like that, I knew that the news wouldn't be good.

"You're dealing with one or more _very_ sick and twisted perpetrators, Miles," she said flatly as she stopped in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze flinty. "For my analysis at the present, we can determine that the victim was an elderly male who was tortured repeatedly and over a succession of days with bruises and burn marks all over his hands, arms and torso." She swallowed, the corners of her mouth twitching. "When they finally _did_ kill him, I can say with conviction that he was _definitely_ alive when they started hacking off his head."

_God._ I closed my eyes, my gorge starting to rise and it was only with difficulty that I was able to keep the contents of my stomach inside where they belonged. I could hear soft retching sounds behind me and I couldn't help but wonder which of the two girls it was.

_Maybe both._

I stood in silence for a moment. "'_They_'? Are you absolutely certain that there was _more_ than one?"

She nodded. "I'm positive. There would have to be since one couldn't do the job without help and there were two sets of footprints that led away from the crucifix."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" I asked finally, my voice tight, my face green. I must have looked far sicker than I felt because she bypassed the usual teasing and got straight to the point.

"I kept being drawn to a crumbling wall near the Crucifix" - My eyebrow raised at that -"although I really can't say exactly _why_." She blew out her breath. "Call it coroner's intuition or what you will, but there is _something_ there; I just don't know what that is."

I made a mental note of it and filed it away in my memory to look at later on. Maybe there was something to it, maybe there wasn't but I knew Dr. Partridge and that she never mentioned anything that she didn't think was important.

"Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Not at the present time; I can't tell you anything else specifically until I get the body back to the lab and do an autopsy." She laid a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently. She'd recognized the signs and knew what it meant; her silent gesture was a way to express her sympathy without saying a word for which I was very grateful. "I'm sorry that I can't tell you anymore than that right now but, as soon as I'm finished, I'll call you."

I nodded, swaying slightly as another wave of nausea swept over me. "Thank you, Dr. Partridge, I appreciate it," I finally managed to choke out before she nodded and began walking back toward the crucifix and was soon swallowed up in the darkness as she got beyond the reach of the remaining strobe lights. It took me a few minutes to get myself under some kind of conscious control and took a few deep breaths before I turned to face the whey-faced teens that stood behind me.

Ms. Fey and Ms. Skye had remained silent in the background during the exchange and they hesitantly stepped out of the darkness, their faces reflecting their revulsion although Ms. Skye still looked a little shaky. Considering the circumstances, she was holding up well for someone who'd had quite the shock. They had been to crime scenes before but never come across one like _this_ one.

_In one sense, that's a good thing. If they_ didn't _feel_ anything, _I'd be worried._ I rubbed my tired eyes. _I guess it had to happen sooner or later, this baptism of fire._ I looked at both of them with a critical eye, crossing my arms over my chest. _I wonder if that has tamped down the desire to be a investigator for either of them although, with some degree of certainty, I suspect not._

I sighed and looked up at the smoky grey sky before I closed my eyes, leaning backward against the reassuring firmness of the tree that stood behind me. _I never knew, or suspected, that my past would come back to haunt me... and that Phoenix would be caught in the crossfire._

I couldn't help but wonder, as I looked upward, where Phoenix was... or even where to begin looking for him. L.A. was a big city; he could be anywhere in a million different places or even in a million more that weren't immediately visible.

_Perhaps the poor soul going to the morgue might be able to help us..._ I shivered slightly. _At least, I_ hope _he will._

I looked up at the sky, startled to see a red film covering the moon. I hadn't seen very many harvest moons before and this appearance-given the present dire circumstances-was, to say the least, to me an unwelcome harbinger of doom.

_It's a crimson moon_, I thought with some trepidation, my eyes narrowing, a chill running down my spine. _A crimson moon rising..._

I wasn't by nature a superstitious person-far from it-but I couldn't help it; I was on my last tether at this point and I wasn't sure of what to do next. My beloved was in the clutches of two psychopaths who were determined to make me pay for a past mistake that I hadn't even made. As much as I tried to shrug off the bad feeling, I couldn't shake it completely.

_Hold on, Phoenix... just hold on a little longer. I'm doing my best to find you but I'm going to need a little more time to work it out._ I closed my eyes. _Please, hold on..._

I hoped, with every fiber of my being, that it wasn't _too_ late.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Time: Unknown  
Place: Unknown_

_I was so immersed in my own misery that I missed the soft, twisting shaft of light that was slowly making its way over to me until it was right in front of me. I cried out in startled surprise when I opened my eyes to see Dr. Benson standing there beside me, a smile on his craggy face. The soft light that always seemed to surround him glowed softly, a beacon of hope in the Stygian darkness._

"Well now, laddie,"_he said mildly, his left hand resting lightly on his hip, his black doctor's bag carried in his right, his lips curving into an amused smile at the look of absolute, stunned amazement on my face,_ "we've got ourselves a situation here, haven't we?"

What... H-how...?!

_He winked at me while I gaped in surprise, my mouth opening and closing but no sound emerged. He grinned at my discomfiture and, when I finally managed a small croak, he shook his head, lifting his left hand, putting his index finger to his lips. He looked sad and I couldn't help but wonder why._

I opened my mouth to try to speak but he shook his head a second time, once again rendering me silent.

_My eyes narrowed in hurt confusion._ He looks so... _serious..._ _I didn't know _why_ and that bothered me._

"Quiet now," _he said gravely, with such a serious expression on his face that I fell silent,_ "you can't tell _them_ that I'm here or even act like I'm here." _He looked sad for a moment, his eyes glistening._ "I'm here to help you but I _can't_ if _they_ find out that I've been here. You must _not_ tell _them_ that I'm here or I won't be able to come here anymore."

_My eyes widened in shock but I nodded mutely, swallowing hard. There was definitely something strange going on here but I pushed that back into the furthest recesses of my mind; I had far more important things to think about presently and Dr. Benson's strange reappearance and cryptic words_ weren't _among them._

"Good lad," _he replied, his face suddenly brightening, turning away briefly and I heard him opening his black bag and rummaging around inside it,_ "now let's see what we can do to help you..."

_He talked as he did so, his thick Scottish burr a balm on my tortured and troubled soul. I drank in his words eagerly, needing to hear more and he willingly obliged. It was curious; I hadn't spoken of my need, or hunger, for company but he seemed to know it instinctively and I felt much better than I had in a very long time._

I suppose this is what makes him a _very_ good physician. _My eyes flickered over briefly to where he stood._ He knows _exactly_ what his patient needs...

"All right," _he said at last, turning around and kneeling on the ground beside me, a filled syringe in his hand,_ "it's time for your medicine." _He gently moved the blanket aside and scrubbed the skin of my exposed arm with a swab of alcohol before inserting the needle, pressing it home. I sighed with heart-felt relief as I felt the medication flow into my bloodstream, feeling the aches of my body and spirit gently melting away as it took effect._

_Dr. Benson stood up, a satisfied smile on his face. He quickly cleaned up and put the blanket back up under my chin, tucking it in underneath._

"Remember," _he said once again, his eyes twinkling as he stood up,_ "_don't_ tell _them_ that I was here. I'll be back in a bit to see you or sooner if you need me."

_My eyelids struggled to stay open._ "But... how will... will... you... _know_?" _My tongue felt thick and I had difficulty getting the words out._

He leaned down and tenderly ruffled my hair.

"I'll know," _was all he said, winking again and I couldn't help but feel comforted even though I really didn't understand what he was getting at._

_I watched him through half-open eyes as he bent over, picked up his black bag, and turned, slowly walking toward the back of the room. He paused at the dark area that led to the outside and turned back to face me saying with conviction, _"He _is_ looking for you, Phoenix; don't give up hope. He _will_ find you, I promise."

"Wh-?" _I struggled to rise but I couldn't; my body felt as heavy as a stone. I wanted to ask him what he meant but he just smiled, put his index finger briefly to his lips and waved before he turned and disappeared into the dark passageway beyond._

_I reached out a shaky hand, my lips moving as if to implore him to come back and explain what he meant, struggling hard against the drowsiness I could feel creeping up on me. In the end, it was a losing battle for I fell into a deep, dreamless slumber shortly after, those beautiful grey eyes following me into the dark..._


End file.
